m 


iv 

<§. 

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o 


CATECHISM 


OF    THE 


HISTORY  OF   IRELAND 


ANCIENT   AND   MODERN. 


BY  WILLIAM  J.  0'i\EILL  DAUNT,  ESQ. 


AUTHOR   OF   "  SAINTS  AND   SINNERS." 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  PATRICK  DONAHOE, 
No.  1  Spring  Lane. 

18  4  5. 


1862 


ADVERTISEMEM' 


TO 


THE     AMERICAN     EDITION 


The  following  p^iges  are  the  pioduction  of 
an  able  and  enthusiastic  young  Irish  patriot. 
He  has  served  Ireland  well  with  voice  and 
pen,  and  the  Father  of  his  country  as  a  con- 
fidential secretary.  It  is,  therefore,  in  every 
respect  a  national  work,  and  the  very  best 
key  w^e  have  ever  seen  to  the  study  of  the 
wonderful  history  of  that  nation.  Its  brevity 
omits  nothing  of  real  importance  which  could 
be  thus  glanced  at,  while  the  admirable  con- 
nection of  the  whole  charms  the  memory  from 
forgetfulness  of  any  portion  of  its  contents. 

This  well-timed  work  was  not  more  needed 
in  Ireland  than  it  is  in  America.  We  are, 
with  very,  very  few  exceptions,  infants  in  the 


4  ADVERTISEMENT. 

study  of  Irish  history  —  the  most  interesting 
of  any  relating  to  Western  Europe.  Let  us 
begin  with  the  beginning.  It  is  full  time  our 
fellow-citizens  should  know  something  of  an 
island  which  has  been  a  fruitful  source  of 
population  and  benefit  to  the  new  world  — 
from  whose  children  millions  around  and 
among  them  are  descended,  and  from  which 
the  tide  of  emigration  still  sets  steadily 
towards  these  shores.  To  those  emigrants 
themselves  this  Catechism  will  be  most  wel- 
come ;  and  the  more  thoroughly  they  study  its 
pages,  the  farther  they  will  advance  to  the 
perfection  of  all,  earthly  philosophy  —  the 
knowledge  of  themselves. 


PREFACE. 


I  INTEND  this  little  Catechism  for  a  school- 
book.  I  hope  it  may  help  to  train  up  Irish 
children  "  in  the  way  in  which  they  should  go." 
I  have  often  been  thoroughly  disgusted  at  the 
deceptive  character  of  those  quasi-historical 
abstracts  which  are  put  into  the  hands  of  our 
youth,  and  which  are  calculated  to  create  in 
their  minds  a  contempt  for  their  own  brave 
and  gallant  Celtic  forefathers,  a  political  idol- 
atry of  England,  and  a  total  misconception  of 
the  real,  substantial  interests  of  their  native 
land. 

It  was  necessarily  impossible,  in  a  compila- 
tion so  hmited  in  extent  as  the  present,  to 
enter  into  full  details  of  historical  incidents. 
The  outlines  of  our  national  annals  are  all 
that  could  be  given  ;  accompanied,  sometimes, 

1* 


6  PREFACE. 

by  a  brief  word  of  comment,  meant  to  guide 
the  youthful  student  with  respect  to  the  moral 
of  his  country's  history.  School-books  about 
Ireland  have  too  often  been  designed  to  train 
their  readers  to  look  through  English  spec- 
tacles at  Irish  transactions.  I  have  looked  at 
those  transactions  through  an  Irish  medium ; 
I  have  sought  to  extend,  to  the  rising  genera- 
tion, that  teaching  which  has  been  dissem- 
inated with  such  potent  efficacy  among  their 
seniors,  by  my  able  friends  who  conduct  the 
Nation  newspaper ;  being  deeply  convinced 
that  the  welfare  of  the  country,  and  the  cause 
of  political  truth,  can  alone  be  promoted  and 
secured  by  infusing  into  the  hearts  of  its  in- 
habitants the  sacred  principle  of  nationality. 

Of  religious  differences,  except  so  far  as 
they  have  affected  politics,  I  have  said  nothing 
whatever.  Some  of  the  best  and  warmest 
Irish  patriots  are,  and  have  been,  Protestants. 
There  is  nothing  in  any  Christian  creed  to 
prevent  its  professors  from  working  honestly 
and  efficiently  for  their  country. 


PREFACE.  7 

I  have  not  screened  the  fauUs  and  folhes  of 
our  ancestors.  Their  great  and  noble  qual- 
ities were  too  often  neutralized  by  their  sin  of 
mutual  dissension.  It  is  true  that  in  this 
res})ect  they  were  not  worse  than  the  con- 
temporary inhabitants  of  other  lands  ;  but  the 
evils  arising  from  internal  differences  have, 
from  peculiar  circumstances,  been  more  griev- 
ous and  enduring  in  Ireland  than  almost  in 
any  other  country.  It  is  time  that  'party 
should  be  merged  in  nationality. 

There  exists  not  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
a  nation  richer  than  our  own  in  all  the  moral 
and  physical  resources  of  greatness,  pros- 
perity, and  happiness  ;  or  more  fertile  in  all 
the  materials  of  self-government.  Every  page 
of  our  history  impresses  the  conviction,  that, 
if  intestine  divisions  were  abandoned  ;  if  men 
would  use  the  energies  and  powers  God  has 
given  them  for  the  common  benefit,  instead 
of  for  the  purposes  of  faction  ;  if,  instead  of  a 
miserable  strife  to  exalt  Whig  over  Tory,  or 
Tory  over  Whig,  all  parties  would  unite   to 


8  PREFACE. 

exalt  Ireland,  by  restoring  to  her  legislative 
freedom  ;  then  we  should  see  those  great 
qualities,  which  now  lie  nearly  dormant,  called 
forth  into  active  exercise,  and  productive  of 
unnumbered  blessings  to  our  fatherland. 

W.  J.   O'NEILL  DAUNT. 

Kilcascan,  County  Cork, 
23d  September,  1844. 


CATECHISM 


OF    THE 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Of  the  Original  Inhahitanis  of  Ireland. 

Question.    Whence  was  Ireland   first  peopled? 

Ansioer.  There  are  many  accounts  of  the 
origin  of  her  earliest  inhabitants  ;  the  most  proba- 
ble belief  is,  that  Ireland  was  peopled  by  a  colony 
of  Phcenicians. 

Q.    Who  were  the  Phoenicians  1 

A.  They  were  a  branch  of  the  great  nation  of 
the  Scythians. 

Q.  How  did  the  early  inhabitants  divide  Ire- 
land? 

A.    Into  five  kingdoms. 

Q.   Name  them. 

A.  Ulster,  Leinster,  Connaught,  Munster,  and 
Meath. 

Q.    How  were  these  five  kingdoms  governed  ? 

A.  Each  by  its  own  prince ;  and  the  king  of 
Meath  was  also  paramount  sovereign  of  all  Ire- 
land. 

Q.  Did  these  kingdoms  descend  from  father  to 
son  by  hereditary  right? 

A.  No;  the  succession  was  regulated  by  the 
law  of  Tanistry. 


10  CATECHiSxM    OF    THE 

Q.   What  was  Tanistry  ? 

A.  Tanistry  was  a  law  which  restricted  the 
right  of  succession  to  the  family  of  the  prince,  or 
chief;  but  any  member  of  the  family  might  be 
elected  successor,  as  well  as  the  eldest  spn. 

Q.    What  does  tanist  mean  ] 

A.  Tanist  was  the  title  borne  by  the  elected 
successor,  during  the  life  of  the  reigning  prince, 
or  chief 

Q.  What  qualities  was  it  necessary  that  the 
tanist  should  possess  ? 

A.  He  should  be  a  knight,  full  twenty-five 
3'ears  old;  his  figure  should  be  tall,  noble,  and 
free  from  blemish  ;  and  he  should  prove  his  pedi- 
gree from  the  Milesians. 

Q.    Was  Tanistry  a  good  custom  ? 

A.    No;  for  the  strucrales  of  the   different  can- 

^  Oct 

didates,  to  be  elected,  caused  great  warfare  and 
bloodshed. 

Q.  Where  did  the  king-paramount  of  all  Ire- 
land reside? 

A.    At  the  palace  of  Tara,  in  Meath. 

Q.  What  was  the  ancient  law  of  Ireland 
called  ? 

A.    The  Brehon  Law.* 

Q.  What  was  most  remarkable  in  the  Brehon 
Law  ? 

A.  The  nearly  total  absence  of  capital  pun- 
ishment. 

Q.    How  was  murder  punished  ? 

A.    By  a  money-fine,  called  an  eric. 

Q.  Had  the  lenity  of  the  Brehon  Law  m  that 
respect  a  good  effect  ? 

A.   Not  always  :    for  the  friends  of  the  mur- 

*  Brehiv  is  the  modern  Irish  for  a  judge. 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  11 

dered  person  often  deemed  the  penalty  inflicted 
by  the  law  too  slight ;  and  in  avenging  their  own 
wrongs,  bloody  feuds  and  clan-battles  often  oc- 
curred. 

Q.  How  were  men  appointed  to  the  office  of 
brehon  ? 

A.  The  office  of  brehon  was  hereditary  in 
certain  families. 

Q.  Were  the  other  great  offices  in  Ireland,  in 
like  manner,  restricted  to  certain  families  ? 

A.  Yes;  in  those  days  all  great  offices  were 
thus  restricted. 

Q.  Can  you  state  any  ancient  custom  of  those 
early  times  which  still  exists  in  Ireland? 

A.  Yes;  the  custom  o{ fostering.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  chiefs  and  nobles  were  always  suckled 
by  the  wives  of  the  tenants. 

Q.  Was  the  link  thus  formed  considered  a 
strong  one  ? 

A.  As  strong  as  the  tie  of  actual  relationship. 
Nay,  foster-brothers  and  foster-sisters  often  loved 
each  other  better  than  if  they  had  been  the  chil- 
dren of  the  same  parents. 

Q.  Can  you  mention  any  other  ancient  cus- 
tom ? 

A.  Y^es  ;  that  of  gossiprcd.  The  chiefs  and 
nobles  frequently  became  godfathers  to  the  chil- 
dren of  their  vassals  and  dependents. 

Q.    Had  these  eld  customs  any  good  effect  1 

A.  They  had  :  they  helped  in  some  degree  to 
connect  different  classes  in  the  bonds  of  affection 
with  each  other. 

Q.  Are  there  any  remarkable  remains  of  early 
Irish  buildings  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  there  are  fifty-two  round  towers  in 
Ireland  of  a  very  high  antiquity 


12  CATECHISxM   OF  THE 

Q.  What  was  the  origin  and  purpose  of  those 
buildings  ? 

A.  Both  their  origin  and  purpose  are  unknown  : 
there  is,  however,  a  rather  probable  opinion  that 
they  were  intended  for  the  fire-worship  of  the 
pagans,  before  the  Christian  religion  was  brought 
into  Ireland. 

Q.  Are  there  similar  round  towers  in  any  other 
part  of  the  British  islands? 

A.  No;  excepting  two  which  still  remain  in 
Scotland. 


CHAPTER   II. 
The  Irish  Christian  Church. 

Question.  Who  was  the  first  Christian  Bishop 
with  local  jurisdiction  in  Ireland  ? 

Answer.    Saint  Palladius. 

Q.    By  whom  was  he  appointed  ? 

A.    By  Pope  Celestine,  in  the  year  4^0.* 

Q.  Whence  did  the  whole  Irish  nation  receive 
its  Christianity  ? 

A.    From  Rome. 

Q.    W^ho  states  these  facts? 

A.  They  are  stated  by  many  ancient  historians 
of  the  highest  credit ;  namely,  by  Saint  Prosper 
of  Acquitaine,  in  the  year  434;  by  Saint  Colum- 
banus,  an  Irish  prelate,  A.  D,  610  ;  by  the  Abbot 
Cummian,  another  Irishman,  in  the  year  650 ;  by 

*  The  earliest  chronicler  of  this  fact  is  Saint  Prosper,  of 
Acquitaine,  Chron.  ad  annum, 43-1-.  torn.  1.  —  Rer.  Gal.  Fol.  Paris, 
1738,  p.  630.  His  words  are,  "Ad  Scotas  in  Christum  credentes 
ordinatur  a  Papa  Celestino  Palladius,  et  primus  Episcopus  mit- 
titur."  "  Scoti "  was  then,  and  for  a  long  time  after,  the  ex- 
clusive designation  of  the  Irish  people. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  13 

the  Venerable  Bede,  an  English  monk  and  his- 
torian, A.  D.  701  ;  by  Probus,  an  Irish  writer  of 
the  ninth  century  ;  by  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters;  by  Marianus  Scotus,  an  Irish  writer  in 
the  year  1059  ;  and  by  Saint  Sigebert,  the  monk 
of  Gemblours,  who  wrote  in  or  about  the  year 
1101. 

Q.  What  are  the  words  of  Saint  Prosper  of 
Acquitaine? 

A.  He  says  :  "  By  Pope  Celestine  is  Palladius 
ordained  and  sent  the  first  bishop  to  the  Irish 
believinor  in  Christ." 

Q.    What  are  the  words  of  Saint  Columbanus  ? 

A.  Saint  Columbanus  wrote  a  letter  to  Pope 
Boniface  the  Fourth,  in  which  he  thus  speaks  to 
that  Pontiff:  "  As  your  friend,  your  scholar,  your 
servant,  not  as  a  stranger,  will  I  speak ;  therefore, 
as  to  our  masters,  to  the  steersmen,  to  the  mystic 
pilots  of  the  spiritual  ship,  will  I  freely  speak, 
saying,  Watch,  for  the  sea  is  stormy  ;  watch,  for 
the  water  has  already  gotten  into  the  ship  of  the 
church,  and  the  ship  is  in  danger  !  "  * 

Q.    What  do  you  notice  in  these  words? 

A.  I  notice,  that  this  Irish  prelate  acknowledges 
the  Roman  Pontiffs  to  have  been  the  spiritual 
teachers  of  the  Irish  Christian  church;  and  also 
that  he  begs  of  the  Pope  to  defend  that  church 
from  the  dangrers  that  beset  it. 

Q.    Who  was  Cummian? 

A.  He  was  an  Irish  abbot,  in  the  seventh 
century, 

Q.  Did  Cummian  acknowledge  that  the  Irish 
received  their  faith  from  Rome  ? 

A.   Yes. 

*  S.  CoLUMBANi,  Epist.  ad  Bonifacium  IV.  Biblioth   Vet. 
Pat.  t.  xii.  p.  532,  Ed.  Gallandio. 

2 


14  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.    What  are  his  words  ? 

A.  He  says:  "We  sent  those  persons  whom 
we  knew  to  be  wise  and  humble  men,  to  Rome, 
as  it  were  cliildren  to  their  mother."  * 

Q.    What  does  the  Venerable  Bede  say  ? 

A.  He  says:  "  In  the  eighth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Theodosius  the  Younger,  Paliadius  was  sent  by 
Celestine,  Pontiff  of  the  Roman  church,  to  the 
Irish  believing  in  Christ,  as  their  first  bishop."  t 

Q.  What  are  the  words  of  Probus,  the  Irish 
writer  of  the  ninth  century  ? 

A.  He  says:  "  The  Archdeacon  Paliadius  was 
ordained  and  sent  to  this  island  (Ireland)  by 
Celestine,  the  forty-fifth  Pope  who  occupied  the 
apostolic  chair  in  succession  from  Saint  Peter."  i: 

Q.    What  does  Probus  call  Rome? 

A.    "  The  head  of  all  churches."  | 

Q.  Do  the  ancient  annals  of  Innisfallen  attest 
the  connection  of  the  early  Irish  church  with  that 
of  Rome  ? 

A.    They  do. 

Q.    In  what  manner  ? 

A.  They  tell  us  that,  in  402,  two  Irishmen, 
Kiarap  and  Declan,  having  sojourned  in  Rome, 
came  thence  to  preach  Christianity  in  Ireland  ; 
that,  in  412,  St.  Ailbe,  of  Emly,  came  from  Rome 
to  announce  the  faith  in  Ireland  ;  and  that,  in 
420,  Ibar  Invarensis  (another  Irishman  who  had 
studied  in  Rome)  came  thence  to  Ireland. <^ 

Q.    Have  we   got  traces   of  any  earlier   con- 

*   CUMMIANUS    HlBFRNUS.   A.  D.  650.  apud  USSERIUM,    Vet. 

Epis.  Hihern.  Syllos^e,  p.  13. 

+  Vkn.  Bkdje.  Hist.  Eccles.  ^cntis  Angloriim,  1.  1,  c.  13. 

i  Probus,  de  Vita  S.  Patricii,  apud  Bedam.  p.  313,  t.  iii. — 
Basil.  1573. 

^  O'Connor,  Rer.  Hihern.  Script,  t.  ii,  in  Annul.  Innisfall. 
pp:  12,  13. 


HISTORY   OF    IRELAND.  15 

nection  than  this  between  the  Irish  and  the 
Roman  Christians  ? 

A.  Yes;  so  far  back  as  the  year  3G0,  a  certain 
Christian  priest  had  been  sent  from  Rome  to 
Ireland,  to  teach  the  Christian  faith  there;  and  it 
was  from  that  priest  that  Saint  Ailbe  of  Emly 
received  baptism.* 

Q.  Who  was  Marianus  Scotus,  and  when  did 
he  flourish? 

A.  He  was  an  Irish  scholar  and  writer,  and 
he  flourished  about  the  year  1059. 

Q.    What  are  his  words? 

A.  He  says  that,  "  in  the  year  of  Christ  432, 
to  the  Irish  believing  in  Christ,  Pailadius,  or- 
dained by  Pope  Celestine,  was  sent  the  first 
bishop.  After  him  Saint  Patrick,  who  was  a 
Giul  by  birth,  and  consecrated  by  Pope  Celestine, 
is  sent  to  the  Irish  archiepiscopacy."t 

Q.  There  were  Christians  in  Ireland,  then, 
before  the  arrival  of  Pailadius  and  Patrick  ? 

A.    Yes;   a  very  small  and  scattered  number. 

Q.  By  whom  had  that  small  number  of  Irish 
Christians  been  first  taught  the  fiith  ? 

A.  Probably  by  the  Roman  priest,  who  visited 
Ireland  in  369,  and  who  baptized  Saint  Ailbe  of 
Emly. 

Q.  V/ho  was  the  great  apostle  of  the  faith  to 
the  Irish  nation  ? 

A.    Saint  Patrick. 

Q.    Where  was  he  born  ? 

A.    At  Bouloo-ne,  in  Armoric  Gaul. 

Q.    Who  was  his  father  ? 

A.    Calphurnius. 

*  UssERii.  Britan.   Eccles.  Antiq.  Index  Chronologicus,  p. 
612,  et  ex  vita  S.  Albei,  ib.  p.  409. 
t  Makianus  Scotus,  Chron.  ad  annum,  ed.  Basile.  1553. 


16  CATECHIS3I    OF   THE 

Q.   Was  Calphurnius  in  holy  orders] 

A.  Not  at  the  time  of  his  son's  birth.  He  was 
then  a  layman ;  but  at  a  later  period  he  separated 
from  his  wife,  and  took  holy  orders  in  the  church. 

Q.    On  what  authority  do  you  state  these  facts  ? 

A.  On  the  authority  of  the  ancient  writer  of 
Saint  Patrick's  life,  Joceline.* 

Q.  Had  Saint  Patrick  great  success  in  his 
mission  ? 

A.  His  success  was  perfect.  He  converted 
the  entire  of  Ireland  to  the  Christian  relicrion  : 
thus  gloriously  finishing  the  work  of  Saint  Pal- 
ladius. 

Q.  Did  Saint  Patrick  teach  spiritual  obedience 
to  the  Pope? 

A.  He  did.  Amonor  the  canons  or  rules  made 
m  the  synods  which  he  called  together,  and  over 
which  he  presided,  we  find  it  ordained,  "  that  if 
any  questions  arise  in  this  island,  they  are  to  be 
referred  to  the  Apostolic  See."f 

Q.  Did  other  prelates  of  the  early  Irish  church 
practise  the  obedience  to  the  Pope  which  Saint 
Patrick  taught  ? 

A.   They  did. 

Q.  How  does  the  Irish  Saint  Columbanus,  in 
the  sixth  century,  address  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  ? 

A.  He  calls  him  the  "  Holy  Lord  and  Roman 
father   in  Christ ;''  "  —  the  chosen    JVatchmaji, 


*  "  Postquam  vero  aliquantum  processerant  in  diebns  suis 
(Parentis  S.  Patricii)  t'aelici  generatione  completa,  communi 
consensu,  castitati  studuerunt,  et  sancto  fine  in  Domino  qui- 
everunt.  Calphurnius  autern  prius  in  Diaconatu  diutius 
Domino  servavit,  postremo  in  Presbyteratu  vitam  finivit."  — 
Joceliniis  Vit.  S.  Patric.  C.  i. 

t  "  Si  quae  questiones  in  hac  insula  oriantur,  ad  sedem 
Apostolicara  referantur."  —  Canones  S.  Patricii,  apud  Wil- 
kins]  Concil.  Mag.  Brit.  t.  i.  p.  6. 


HISTORY   OF    IRELAND.  17 

possessed  of  the  divine  theory  of  the  treasurer- 
ship  ;  "  —  he  speaks  of  him  as  "  lawfully  sitting 
in  the  chair  of  Saint  Peter  the  Apostle ; "  and  he 
begs  the  Pope  to  decide  for  him  how  he  ought  to 
act  in  certain  cases.* 

Q.  How  does  Saint  Columbanus  address  Saint 
Gregory's  successor,  Pope  Boniface  the  Fourth? 

A.  He  x:alls  him  "  The  Holy  Lord,  and  in 
Christ  the  Apostolic  Father.''  t 

Q.  Does  Saint  Columbanus  elsewhere  recog- 
nize the  Pope's  supremacy  ? 

A.\  Yes.  In  another  letter  to  Pope  Boniface 
IV.,  he  calls  him  "  the  head  of  all  the  churches  of 
the  ichole  of  Europe;''  he  also  terms  the  Pope 
'^  the  Pastor  of  pastors."  \  In  the  same  letter, 
Columbanus  says,  "  We  are,  as  I  said  before, 
bound  to  the  chair  of  Saint  Peter.  For  though 
Rome  is  great  and  renowned,  it  is  through  this 
chair  only  that  she  is  great  and  bright  amongst 

Q.  Did  not  a  dispute  arise  in  the  Irish  church 
about  the  time  when  Easter  ought  to  be  kept  ? 

A.  Yes;  towards  the  end  of  the  sixth  and  be- 
ginning of  the  seventh  century. 

Q.  What  did  the  Irish  abbot,  Cummian,  say 
with  regard  to  that  dispute  ? 

A.  Cummian  quoted  Saint  Jerome's  words  :  "  I 
cry  out,  whosoever  is  joined  to  the  chair  of  Saint 
Peter,  that'  man  is  mine  !  —  What  more  1     I  turn 

*  S.  CoLUMBAXT,  Epist.  i.  ad  Grcgormm  Papam,  inter 
opera  S.  Columbani,  apud  GxhLANDii,  Bib.  Vet.  Fat.  t.  xii. 
p.  345. 

t  Ibid.  J).  349. 

t  Ibid.  pp.  349—354. 

§  Venkraelf,  Bkde.  Hist.  Eccles.  Gentis.  Anglor.  I.  ii. 
c.  xix.  p.  148,  ed.  Stevenson.  Lon.  1833  ;  also  Epist.  S.  Greg. 
I.  ii.  c.  iv. 

2* 


18  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

me  to  the  words  of  the  bishop  of  the  city  of 
Rome,  Pope  Gregory,  received  by  us  in  com- 
mon." * 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  Christians  fall  into  a  wrono- 
mode  of  computing  Easter  1 

A.   They  did. 

Q.    Who  reclaimed  the  Irish  from  that  error  ? 

A.    Pope  Honorius,  about  the  year  62S.t 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  resist  the  Pope's  settlement 
of  this  question  among  them  ? 

A.  So  far  from  that,  they  yielded  to  it  a  ready 
and  cheerful  obedience. 

Q.  Had  Pope  Honorius  a  legate  in  Ireland 
about  this  time?  (628.) 

A.  Yes.  He  appointed  Saint  Lasrean,  an  Irish 
prelate,  his  legate  in  Ireland. 

Q.  Do  we  find  other  proofs,  in  history,  of  the 
close  connection  between  the  early  Irish  Chris- 
tians and  the  Apostolic  Chair? 

^4.  Yes.  The  missionaries  from  Ireland  used 
to  go  to  Rome  to  do  homage  to  the  Pope,  and  beg 
his  leave  and  his  blessing,  before  they  went  to 
preach  to  pagan  nations. 

Q.    Do  you  know  the  names  of  any  who  did  so  ? 

A.  Yes.  Saint  Dichul,  or  Deicolus,  did  so. 
About  the  year  686,  Saint  Killian  and  his  com- 
panion missionaries  did  so.  Saint  Willibrord 
(a  saint  of  English  birth,  who  had  long  lived  in 
Ireland)  did  so. 

Q.  Did  Irish  bishops  take  part  in  Roman 
councils  ? 

*  Cumraiani  Hiberni  ad  Segienum  Huensem  Abbatem,  de 
ConlrovsrsicB  Paschali  Epistola,  apud  Usskrium,  Vet.  Epist. 
Hibern.  SyUoge. 

t  This  is  stated  by  Archbishop  Usher,  in  his  work  "  De 
Brittanicarum  Ecclesiarum  Primordii^.  p.  938. 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  19 

A.   Yes. 

Q.    State  an  instance. 

A.  Among  the  bishops  who  attended  the  coun- 
cil held  at  Rome  by  Pope  Gregory  II.,  in  the  year 
7'21,  were  Sedulius,  an  Irishman,  bishop  in  Britain; 
and  Ferorustus  the  Pict,  bishop  in  Ireland. 

Q.  W^iat  means  were  taken  to  get  Waterford 
made  a  bishop's  see  ? 

A.  King  Murtocrh,  his  brother  Dermod,  and 
the  four  bishops,  Domnald,  Idunan  (of  Meath), 
Samuel  (of  Dublin),  and  Ferdomnach  (of  Lein- 
ster),  petitioned  Anselm,  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, to  erect  Waterford  into  a  bishopric. 

Q.  Why  did  they  apply  to  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  ? 

-4.  Because  he  had,  at  that  time,  primatial  au- 
thority over  the  Irish  Christian  church,  as  well  as 
over  the  Encrlish. 

Q.    What  was  the  language  of  the  applicants? 

A.  They  begged  Anselm  would  appoint  a 
bishop,  "  in  virtue  of  the  power  of  primacy  which 
he  held  over  them,  and  of  the  authority  of  the 
apostolic  function  which  he  exercised  J'  * 

Q.  Did  Anselm  indicate  the  Pope's  primacy, 
in  his  communications  to  the  Irish  prelates  ? 

A.  Of  course  he  did.  In  writing  to  the  bishop 
of  Dublin,  (the  aforesaid  Samuel,)  he  says  to  him, 
*•  I  have  heard  tliat  thou  hast  a  cross  borne  before 
thee  on  the  hiahwavs.  If  this  be  true,  I  order 
thee  to  do  so  no  more,  because  this  belongeth  only 
to  an  archbishop  confirmed  by  the  pall  from  the 
Roman  Pontiff."  t 


*  Primatus  quern  super  eos  gerpbat  potestate.  et  qua  funge- 
BATUR  Vicis  ApostoliCjE  Adctoritate."  Eadmeri, 
Historic  Novorum,  1.  ii.  p.  36,  ed.  Seldeno.     London,  1623. 

t   Anselm  us     Archif.piscopus     CantuarijE,    venerabili 


20  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  What  was  the  language  of  Gilbert,  bishop 
of  Limerick,  in  the  year  1C90? 

A.  He  says:  "All  the  church's  members  are 
to  be  brought  under  one  bishop,  namely,  Christ, 
and  his  vicar,  blessed  Peter  the  Apostle,  and  the 
Pope  presiding  in  his  chair,  to  be  governed  by 
them." 

Q.  Does  this  ancient  Irish  bishop  add  anything 
more  on  this  subject  ? 

A.  Yes ;  his  v»ords  are  :  "  To  Peter  only  was  it 
said,  '  Thou  art  Piter,  and  vpon  this  rock  will  I 
build  my  Church;  '  therefore,  it  is  the  Pope  only 
who  stands  high  above  the  whole  church ;  and  he 
puts  in  order  and  judges  all."  * 

Q.  What  remarkable  occurrence  took  place  in 
the  tvvelfth  century  1 

A.  Malachi,  the  primate  of  all  Ireland,  visited 
Rome,  and  was  appointed,  by  Pope  Innocent  the 
Second,  his  legate  in  Ireland. 

Q.  What  was  the  particular  purpose  of  his 
visit  to  Rome  1 

A.  To  obtain  from  the  Pope  the  honor  of  the 
pall,  or  pallium,  for  the  Irish  archbishops. 

Q.    What  was  the  pallium  ? 

A.    An  ensign  of  letratine  authority. 

Q.    What  was  the  Pope's  answer? 

.1.  He  told  Malachi  that  he  would  grant  his 
request,  but  that  it  should  first  be  made  by  the 
general  body  of  the  Irish  prelates  assembled  in 
synod. t 

fratro  Samueli  DubJini  civitatis  Episcopo.  Apud  Usserium, 
Vet.  Epist.  Hibern.  Sylloge,  p.  69. 

*  De  Usu  Ecclesiastico  —  Gillkberti  Luntcensis  (Lim- 
erick) Epincopi,  Epistola  ad  Episcopos  HibernicB,  apud  Us- 
SERiUM,  Vet.  Epist.  Hibern.  Sylloge,  p.  54,  et  passim. 

+   Vita  S.  MALACHi.a;  a  S  Bernardo,  apud  Surium,  torn,  vi 

p.  loa 


HISTOilY    OF    IRELAND.  21 

Q.    Was  this  promise  fulfilled  ? 

A.  Not  immediately ;  for,  on  Malachi's  next 
journey  to  Rome,  to  obtain  the  performance  of 
the  promise,  he  fell  sick  and  died  at  Clairvaux,  in 
France,  in  1 148. 

Q.    Were  the  palls  granted  ? 

A.  Yes.  Pope  Eugenius  the  Third  granted 
that  privilege,  through  his  nuncio,  Cardinal  Pa- 
paro,  who  visited  Ireland  in  the  year  1151. 

Q.    What  happened  the  following  year  ? 

A.  A  council  was  held  at  Kells,  at  which  there 
were  twenty-four  Irish  prelates,  and  Cardinal  Pa- 
paro  presided  ;  and  Ireland  was  there  divided  into 
four  archbishopricks. 

Q.    Name  them. 

^4.    Armagh,  Dublin,  Cashel,  and  Tuam. 

Q.    When  was  the  council  of  Cashel  held  ? 

A.    In  the  year  117*2. 

Q.  Did  any  other  event  of  importance  happen 
in  that  year  ? 

^4.  Yes;  Henry  II.,  king  of  Enaland,  landed 
in  this  country,  and  received  the  allegiance  of 
several  Irish  prelates  and  princes,  as  king  of 
Ireland. 

Q.  Was  that  allegiance  tendered  to  Henry  by 
the  council  of  Cashel  ? 

A.  No  ;  the  council  of  Cashel  had  nothinor  to 
do  with  it;  the  allegiance  of  the  prelates  had  been 
tendered  to  Henry  at  Waterford. 

Q.  What  were  the  decrees  of  the  council  of 
Cashel  1 

A.  They  were  aimed  against  certain  evils  of 
the  time,  such  as  marriages  performed  within  the 
forbidden  degrees  of  relationship;  informality  and 
carelessness  in  baptism;   extortion  committed  by 


22  CATECHLS-M    OF    THE 

powerful  laymen  on  the  church-lands ;  neglect 
of  due  solemnity  at  burials,  &lc. 

Q.  Was  there  any  other  important  decree  of 
the  council  of  Cashel  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  it  enforced  the  payment  of  tithes  to 
the  clergy. 

Q.    Had  tithes  existed  in  Ireland  previously  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  they  had  been  introduced  twenty  years 
before,  at  the  council  of  Kells,  held  under  Car- 
dinal Paparo. 


CHAPTER   HI. 

Invasion  of  Ireland  hy  the  Danes. 

Q.    When  did  the  Danes  invade  Ireland  ? 

A.    In  the  ninth  century. 

Q.    Bv  what  name  were  thev  known  1 

A.    They  w-ere  called  Eastmen,  or  Oslmen. 

Q.    Did  they  succeed  in  subduing  the  country? 

A.  Their  success  was  at  first  only  partial. 
They  soon,  however,  seized  upon  towns  and 
villao-es  aloncr  the  coast,  and  built  castles  to 
strengthen  their  position. 

Q.    Did  they  soon  become  more  powerful  ? 

^4.  Yes;  before  long  they  overran  the  whole 
island, 

Q.    Who  was  the  Danish  king  of  Ireland? 

A.    Turgesius. 

Q.  How  was  he  enabled  to  conquer  the  whole 
kingdom  ? 

A.  By  the  disputes  and  divisions  of  the  Irish 
chiefs  themselves.  The  native  princes  were  too 
busy,  quarrelling   with  each  other,   to    oppose   a 


HISTORY    OF    IRELA.ND.  23 

united  and  effectual  resistance  to  the  conquerinsf 
Danes. 

Q.  What  useful  lesson  do  we  learn  from  this 
fact? 

A.  That  Ireland  never  can  be  great,  pros- 
perous, or  happy,  so  long  as  her  people  are 
divided  amongst  themselves. 

Q.    Did  Turaesius  reio-n  lonz  ? 

A.  No.  He  was  soon  cut  off  by  the  contri- 
vance of  an  Irish  prince  to  whom  he  had  made 
himself  obnoxious. 

Q.    What  followed? 

A.  The  Irish  revolted  against  the  Danes;  and, 
as  they  combined  together  tolerably  well,  they 
drove  the  invaders  out  of  the  centre  of  the  country 
to  the  coasts ;  where,  however,  they  still  kept 
possession  of  the  seaports. 

Q.  Did  the  Danes  ever  recover  their  former 
power  in  Ireland? 

A.  No.  In  the  eleventh  century,  the  Irish 
resolved  to  make  a  grand  effort  for  their  final 
expulsion  from  the  island  ;  and  a  battle  was  fought 
on  the  plains  of  Clontarf,  near  Dublin,  on  Good 
Friday,  1014,  in  v/hich  the  Dnnes  were  driven  to 
their  ships  with  great  slaughter. 

Q.  V/ho  was  the  leader  of  the  Irish  army  upon 
that  occasion  ? 

A.  Brian  Boroimhe,  king-paramount  of  Ire- 
land, the  greatest  and  best  king  that  Ireland  ever 
saw. 

Q.    Did  he  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  victory  ? 

A.  No;  he  was  slaughtered,  while  at  prayer  in 
his  tent,  by  a  straggling  party  of  the  enemy. 

Q.  What  was  the  result  of  Brian  Boroimhe's 
death  upon  the  general  interests  of  the  kingdoni  ? 

A.   In  the  last  decrree  disastrous.     On  the  death 


24  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

of  the  monarch,  whose  skill  and  wisdom  had  for 
many  years  governed  the  land  in  prosperity  and 
peace,  the  absurd  and  criminal  squabbles  of  the 
petty  princes  were  revived,  and  the  country  was 
ravacred  with  intestine  warfare. 

Q,  Is  there  any  use  in  recording  and  dwelling 
on  these  disgraceful  contentions  1 

A.  Yes ;  they  teach  us  a  useful,  though  a 
bitter,  lesson.  The  crimes  of  our  forefathers  show 
us  what  we  should  avoid.  We  see,  in  their 
miserable  domestic  quarrels,  the  true  cause  why 
foreign  power  was  able  to  introduce,  and  to  es- 
tablish, its  supremacy  in  Ireland. 

Q.  Did  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  country 
afford  stroncr  encouracrement  to  the  Enolish  kins, 
Henry  the  Second  1 

A.  Of  course  it  did.  Several  of  the  Irish 
princes,  and  all  the  Irish  prelates,  wearied  with 
perpetual  civil  discord,  were  not  unwilling  that 
the  kingdom  should  be  placed  under  a  strong 
sovereign  ruler  ;  and  this  circumstance  gained  a 
welcome  for  Henry  from  the  heads  of  the  church, 
and  a  large  number  of  the  temporal  rulers  of  the 
island. 

Q.  What  circumstance  first  drew  the  British 
invaders  to  Ireland  ? 

^4.  Dermot,  king  of  Leinster,  having  been 
driven  out  of  his  kingdom  by  O'Rorke,  prince 
of  Breffny,  and  O'Connor,  king  of  Connaught, 
sought  the  assistance  of  Henry  the  Second  of 
Enaland  against  his  native  rivals. 

Q.  In  what  year  did  Dermot  thus  seek  help 
from  Henry  1 

A.   In  116S. 

Q.  How  did  Henry  receive  Dermot's  appli- 
cation 1 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  2S 

A.  He  required  the  Irish  king  to  do  homage 
io  him  for  his  possessions ;  and  being  then  unable 
to  go  to  Ireland  himself,  he  gave  Dermot  letters- 
patent,  authorizing  any  English  subjects,  who 
might  be  so  inclined,  to  assist  Dermot  against 
O'Connor  and  O'Rorke. 

Q.    Whose  assistance  did  Dermot  procure  ? 

A.  That  of  Richard,  Earl  of  Strigul  and 
Pembroke,  usually  called  Strongbow,  from  his  skill 
in  archery. 

Q.  What  reward  did  Dermot  promise  Strong- 
bow  for  his  help  ? 

A.  He  promised  to  give  him  his  daughter  Eva 
in  marriage,  and  also  to  bequeath  to  him  the 
inheritance  of  his  kingdom. 

Q.  Did  Dermot  obtain  any  other  help  than 
Stronorbow's? 

A.  Yes  ;  he  got  the  aid  of  Robert  Fitz-Stephen, 
Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  Meyler  Fitz-Henry,  Maurice 
de  Prendergast,  Hervey  Montmarisco,  and  several 
other  knights. 

Q.  When  did  the  Anglo-Norman  invaders  first 
land  in  Ireland  ? 

A.  They  landed  on  the  coast  of  Wexford  in 
the  month  of  May,  1170. 

Q.    Was  Stroncrbow  amonor  their  number? 

A.  No;  he  had  waited  to  obtain  the  express 
permission  of  King  Henry  for  his  Irish  expedition. 

Q.  Did  Henry  grant  permission  to  Strongbow 
to  go  to  Ireland  ? 

A.  No;  he  was  jealous  of  Strongbow,  and 
doubted  his  allegiance. 

Q.    What  did  Strongbow  then  do  1 

A.  He  sailed  for  Ireland  icithotit  Henry's  per- 
mission, carrying  with  him  a  considerable  force, 
with  whose  aid  he  seized  Waterford. 

3 


26  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.    What  followed? 

A.  Strongbow  married  Eva,  the  daucrhter  of 
Dermot  Mac  Murrough,  king  of  Leinster  ;  and,  on 
Dermot's  death,  he  succeeded  to  his  father-in-law's 
territory. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Henry  visit  Ireland  ? 

A.  In  1171.  He  pardoned  Strongbow,  and 
confirmed  to  him  the  possession  of  his  territories 
under  the  English  crown. 

Q.  Did  the  Pope  sanction  Henry  the  Second 
in  his  invasion  of  Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes;  Pope  Adrian  the  Fourth  had,  many 
years  before,  (about  A.  D.  1155,)  been  solicited 
by  Henry  to  sanction  the  conquest  of  Ireland  ; 
and  being  himself  an  Englishman,  he  readily 
consented  to  a  scheme  that  promised  to  extend 
the  power  of  his  native  countrv. 

Q.  Did  all  the  Irish  submit  to  King  Henry  the 
Second  ? 

A.  No  ;  the  larger  portion  of  them  resisted  his 
authority. 

Q.  Were  the  English  laws  extended  to  the 
whole  of  Ireland  ? 

A.  No;  they  w'ere  at  first  granted  only  to  the 
Norman  colonists,  to  some  of  the  seaport  towns, 
and  to  a  few  native  septs,  or  clans,  who  obtained 
the  benefit  of  them  as  a  matter  of  favor. 

Q.  How  many  clans  obtained  the  benefit  of  the 
English  laws  ? 

A.    Five. 

Q.  Name  them. 

A.  The  O'Neills  of  Ulster,  the  O'Connors  of 
Connaught,  the  O'Briens  of  Thomond,  the 
O'Lachlans  of  Meath,  and  the  Kavanaghs  (other- 
wise Mac  Murroughs)  of  Leinster. 

Q.    How  long  did   this  exclusion  of  the  great 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  27 

body  of  the  natives,  from  the  benefit  of  the  Eng- 
lish law,  continue? 

A.  For  several  centuries;  so  late,  in  fact,  as 
the  reiijn  of  Elizabeth. 

Q.  What  was  the  practical  effect  of  this  ex- 
clusion ? 

A.  To  deprive  the  whole  Irish  nation,  (except- 
ing the  five  tribes  already  mentioned,  the  descend- 
ants of  the  colonists,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
seaports,)  of  all  remedy  in  law  for  any  injury  done 
to  them,  and  even  of  all  power  of  suing  for  re- 
dress in  any  court  of  justice. 

Q.  Was  not  an  effort  made  by  the  natives  to 
expel  the  Anglo-Norman  invaders  I 

A.  Yes ;  and  their  hopes  were  excited  by  a 
victory  they  had  jrained  over  Stron^bow,  the  En^- 
iish  commander,  who  was  defeated  in  an  encraore- 
meat  near  Thurles. 

Q.  Who  was  at  the  head  of  the  new  confed- 
eracy against  the  invaders? 

A.  Roderick  O'Connor,  king-paramount  of 
Ireland. 

Q.    Did  Roderick  succeed  ? 

A.  No ;  his  efforts  were  marred  by  the  old 
curse  of  Ireland  —  the  want  of  unity  and  combina- 
tion amoncrst  her  inhabitants. 

Q.  Had  the  Anglo-Normans  any  other  advan- 
tage over  the  natives,  except  that  which  they  de- 
rived from  the  dissensions  of  the  latter  ? 

A.  Yes  :  thev  understood  the  art  of  war  much 
better  than  the  Irish.  They  were  clad  in  com- 
plete suits  of  steel  armor,  and  were  perfect  in  the 
manacrement  of  their  charo-ers  :  whereas,  the 
Irish  had  but  slight  defences,  and  had  merely  the 
rude  weapons  of  their  forefathers  to  oppose  to  the 
array  and  discipline  of  their  powerful  invaders. 


28  CATECHISxM    OF    THE 

Q.  What  was  thenceforth  the  condition  of 
Irehind  1 

A.  Most  wretched.  There  was  constant  war- 
fare between  the  natives  and  the  settlers ;  in  which 
the  victory  was  sometimes  with  the  Irish.  They 
were  brave  and  ardent,  and  often  made  their  ene- 
mies (although  cased  in  armor)  feel  the  weight  of 
their  rude  and  simple  weapons. 

Q.  What  were  the  weapons  of  the  Irish 
warriors  1 

A.  They  had  a  short  lance,  or  javelin,  and  a 
steel  hatchet,  named  a  "  sparthe.'^  They  acquired 
so  much  skill  in  the  use  of  this  sparthe,  that  in 
close  combat  they  often  clove  through  the  steel 
armor  of  their  adversaries  with  it. 

Q.  What  were  the  houses  of  the  Irish  built  of 
at  that  period  1 

A.  Of  timber  and  wicker-work,  and  construct- 
ed with  such  skill  as  to  excite  the  admiration  of 
foreigners. 

Q.  What  was  the  state  of  religion  in  Ireland  in 
the  twelfth  centurv  1 

A.  Religion,  of  course,  suffered  severely  by  the 
license  and  havoc  resulting  from  domestic  warfare; 
and  its  precepts  were  too  often  forgotten  and  neg- 
lected by  the  turbulent  factions  who  divided  the 
country. 

Q,  What  was  at  that  time  the  character  of  the 
clergy  of  Ireland? 

A.  The  ancient  historian,  Giraldus  Cambren- 
sis,  although  extremely  prejudiced  against  the 
Irish  nation,  yet  describes  the  clergy  as  being 
most  virtuous. 

Q.  What  good  qualities  does  he  ascribe  to  the 
Irish  priesthood  1 


HISTORV    OF    IRKLA.ND.  29 

A.  He  says  they  were  preeminently  chaste,* 
temperate  in  their  food,  and  attentive  to  their  re- 
ligious duties.  He,  however,  censures  the  bishops 
as  slothful  :  an  accusation  not  easily  reconciled 
with  the  admitted  virtues  of  the  priesthood  from 
whose  ranks  they  had  risen  to  the  episcopacy. 

Q.    Who  was  Laurence  O'Toole  ? 

A.  One  of  the  best  and  greatest  prelates  who 
have  adorned  t'ne  Irish  church.  He  was  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  and  afterwards  of  Armagh. 

Q.  What  was  his  conduct  in  reference  to  the 
English  invasion  ? 

A.  He  exerted  himself  to  rouse  the  Irish  chiefs 
and  princes  to  a  errand  combined  effort  to  resist 
the  English  invaders,  and  even  bore  arms  himself 
to  encourage  his  countrymen. 

Q.  When,  and  where,  did  this  good  prelate 
die? 

.4.  He  died  in  1178,  at  the  monastery  of  Eu, 
in  Normandy. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Reign  of  Henri/  the  Second  concluded. 

Q.  What  are  the  earliest  traces  we  have  of  par- 
liaments in  Ireland  ? 

A.  About  the  year  1169  we  find  Roderick 
O'Connor,  king-paramount  of  Ireland,  convoking 
a  general  council  of  the  princes  and  nobles  of  the 
land  at  Tara.     But   this   council   did  not  possess 

*  "Inter  varias  quibus  pollet  virtutes,  castitatis  prerogativ.i 
praEeminet  atque  prcecellet."'     c.  27. 

3* 


39  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

the  representative  character  which  attaches  to  the 
modern  house  of  commons. 

Q.  Did  Henry  the  Second  call  a  parliament  in 
Ireland  ? 

A.  He  did  ;  and  that  parliament  passed  a  law 
arranging  the  executive  government  of  Ireland.* 

Q.  Was  Ireland  peaceful  during  Henry's 
reiffn  ? 

A.  It  was  at  the  commencement  of  it,  so  long 
as  Henry  remained  in  Ireland  to  overawe  resist- 
ance by  his  presence. 

Q.    How  lonor  did  he  remain  in  Ireland  ? 

A.    Six  months. 

Q.    After  he  quitted  it,  what  occurred  ? 

A.  Civil  war  succeeded  the  short  peace  which 
had  prevailed  during  his  stay. 

Q.    How  did  it  arise  ? 

A.  From  the  discontent  excited  by  the  grasping 
rap'icity  of  Henry  and  his  followers. 

Q.    Give  an  example  of  this. 

A.  He  granted  away  the  entire  kingdom  of 
Meath,  the  royal  patrimony  of  the  house  of  Me- 
lachlin,  to  Hugh  De  Lacy,  an  Anglo-Norman 
knight. 

Q.  What  was  the  extent  of  land  thus  trans- 
ferred to  De  Lacy  ? 

A.    About  eiffht  hundred  thousand  acres. 


*  "  The  statute,  2  Richard  III.  c.  8,  recites  as  follows : 
'Que  le  Stattite  de  Henry  Fitz  Emprice,'  [Henry  the  Second] 
'  ordeine  pour  la  eleccion  del  gouvernor,'  &c.,  had  made 
several  regulations  for  supplying  occasional  vacancies  in  that 
office.  It  then  proceeds  to  amend  the  same.  Here,  therefore, 
we  have  an  evidence  of  a  purely  legislative  enactment  of 
primary  importance,  made  in  Ireland,  arranging  the  executive 
government  itself,  and  coeval  with  the  supposed  conquest  of 
the  kingdom."  Mr.  Monck  Mason's  Essay  on  the  Constitution 
and  Antiquity  of  Parliaments  in  Ireland,  p.  3,  Dublin,  1820. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  31 

Q.  In  whose  occupation  had  this  territory  been, 
prior  to  Henry's  seizure  of  it  ? 

A.  In  that  of  O'Ruarc,  to  whom  it  had  been 
temporarily  given  by  Roderick  O'Connor. 

Q.    Did  O'Ruarc  endeavor  to  obtain  amends? 

A.  Yes ;  he  asked  redress  from  Hugh  de  Lacy, 
who  appointed  Tara  HilJ  for  a  conference.  They 
met,  with  a  stipulated  number  of  followers  upon 
each  side.  The  two  chiefs,  unarmed,  and  at  a 
distance  from  all  the  rest,  conferred  together  with 
the  help  of  an  interpreter. 

Q.    Did  their  conference  end  peaceably] 

A.  No;  a  strife  arose,  and  O'Ruarc  was  slain 
by  a  relation  of  De  Lacy's  named  Griffith.  His 
corpse  was  beheaded,  and  buried  with  the  heels 
upwards,  in  token  of  contempt.  His  head  was 
exposed  on  a  stake  over  one  of  the  gates  of  Dublin, 
and  finally  sent  to  Encrland,  to  the  kino-. 

Q.  Where  did  the  celebrated  Stronorbow  at 
this  time  reside  1 

A.  At  Ferns,  in  Leinster,  the  residence  of  his 
father-in-law,  Kinor  Dermot  Mac  Murrouofh. 

Q.  Was  he  engaged  in  civil  war  with  any  of 
the  native  chiefs  ? 

A.    Yes  ;  with  O'Dempsey  O'Faley. 

Q.    What  v/as  the  cause  of  quarrel  ? 

A.  O'Faley  had  refused  to  attend  the  court  of 
Strongbow  ;  whereupon  the  latter  invaded  his 
territory. 

Q.    With  what  success  ? 

A.  Strongbow,  at  first,  being  unresisted,  spread 
destruction  in  his  progress.  But  on  his  return  he 
was  attacked  by  O'Faley,  at  the  head  of  a  party, 
who  slew  a  number  of  the  Strongbownian  knights, 
including  Strongbow's  son-in-law,  De  Quincy,  and 
captured  the  standard  of  Leinster. 


32  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.    In  what  year  did  that  skirmish  occur  ? 
A.   In  1173. 

Q.  Did  any  commotions  take  place  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  1 

A.  Yes,  In  1174  Stroncrbow  sent  his  relation, 
Hervey  de  Mount-Maurice,  to  attack  Donald 
O'Brian,  kino-  of  Limerick.  A  laro;e  reenforce- 
nient  of  Strongbow's  army,  however,  were  sur- 
prised at  Ossory,  and  almost  totally  destroyed,  by  a 
party  whom  Donald  O'Brian  commanded. 

Q.  What  was  Strongbow's  revencre  for  this 
defeat  ? 

A.  He  sent  Raymond,  one  of  his  best  military 
commanders,  with  a  large  force,  to  besiege  Lim- 
erick. The  assailants  succeeded  in  takincr  the 
town,  notwithstanding  a  gallant  defence. 

Q.    How  long  did  the  English  keep  Limerick  ? 

A.  Until  May,  1176.  Raymond  was  then 
obliged  to  repair  to  Dublin,  Strongbow  having 
died  :  and  beincr  unable  to  leave  a  sufficient  force 
to  occupy  Limerick,  he  surrendered  it  back  to 
Donald  O'Brian ;  pretending  to  rely  on  O'Brian's 
future  loyalty  to  the  king  of  England. 

Q.  How  did  Donald  O'Brian  act,  on  obtaining 
possession  of  the  town  ? 

A.  Ere  Raymond's  forces  were  out  of  sight, 
Donald  set  fire  to  the  town,  saying  "  that  it  should 
never  again  be  made  a  nest  of  foreigners." 

Q.    Where  was  Strongbow  buried  ? 

A.    In  the  cathedral  of  Christ  Church,  Dublin. 

Q.  Did  Meath  continue  peaceful  all  this 
time  ? 

A.  By  no  means.  De  Lacy  had  given  the 
castle  of  Slane,  in  Meath,  to  one  of  his  followers, 
named  Fleming.  The  Irish  chief  who  had  been 
dispossessed  surprised  the   English  garrison    and 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  33 

inhabitants  of  Slane,  put  them  all  to  the  sword, 
and  recovered  possession  of  his  castle. 

Q.    What  further  results  followed  ? 

A.  The  English,  in  Meath,  were  so  terrified, 
that  the  garrisons  of  three  other  castles,  built  by 
Fleming  in  that  territory,  evacuated  them  on  the 
following  day. 

Q.  Did  King  Henry  enter  into  a  treaty  with 
Roderick  O'Connor,  king-paramount  of  Ireland  ? 

A.    He  did,  in  1175. 

Q.    What  were  the  terms  of  this  treaty  ? 

A.  Henry  was  bound  to  protect  Roderick  in 
possession  of  his  territories,  provided  that  Rod- 
erick consented  to  hold  them  as  Henry's  tributary. 
Roderick,  on  the  other  hand,  was  bound  to  com- 
pel the  Irish  princes  to  pay  tribute  which  was  to 
pass  through  his  hands  to  Henry.  In  case  of  any 
rebellion  against  Henry,  Roderick  was  empowered, 
by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  to  judge  and  punish 
the  insurgents. 

Q.    What  was  the  amount  of  tribute  stipulated  ? 

.4.  One  hide  for  every  ten  head  of  cattle 
slaucrhtered  within  the  kincrdom. 

Q.    Was  this  treaty  observed  ? 

A.  No;  in  the  turmoil  and  confusion  of  the 
times  its  observance  was  impossible. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  and  their  invaders  blend  into 
one  nation  ? 

A.  Not  at  that  period.  The  greatest  hatred, 
in  general,  animated  the  two  races  acrainst  each 
Other. 

Q.  What,  then,  prevented  the  Irish  from  com- 
bininor  to  drive  the  invaders  out  of  the  land  1 

A.  They  were  too  busy  quarrelling  with  each 
other  for  any  such  great  national  effort.  Their 
bravery,    their   enterprise,  their   mental    abilities, 


34  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

were  all  rendered  unavailing  by  their  unhappy 
internal  divisions.  It  oiten  happened  that  they 
joined  the  English  forces,  and  fought  in  their  ranks 
asfaiiist  some  hostile  native  chieftain. 

Q.  Did  not  the  English  also  often  contend 
against  each  other  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  English  troops  were  sometimes  to  be 
found  on  opposite  sides  fighting  in  the  ranks  of 
contending  Irish  chiefs ;  and  the  English  leaders 
themselves  were  occasionally  influenced,  by  their 
mutual  jealousies,  to  assume  an  attitude  of  armed 
hostility  against  each  other. 

Q.  Did  not  some  of  the  new  settlers  intermarry 
with  the  native  Irish  families  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  we  have  seen  that  Strongbow  married 
Eva,  the  daucrhter  of  Dermot  Mac  Murrouo^h  :  and 
Hugh  De  Lacy,  to  whom  Meath  had  been  granted, 
married  the  daucrhter  of  Kino;  Roderick  O'Connor. 
There  were  also  several  other  such  alliances. 

Q.    To  whom  did  King  Henry  grant  Ireland? 

A.    To  his  son  John. 

Q.    What  was  John's  character  ? 

A.  He  was  cruel,  profligate,  extravagant,  and 
vain  ;  destitute  alike  of  moral  principle  and  politi- 
cal  wisdom. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  John  arrive  in  Ireland? 

A.    He  landed  at  Waterford  in  1185. 

Q.    What  was  John's  conduct  ? 

A.  He  commenced  by  offering  personal  insults 
to  the  Irish  chieftains  who  came  to  offer  their 
respects  to  him  as  the  son  of  their  sovereign. 
He,  and  his  courtiers,  plucked  their  beards, 
ridiculed  their  dress  and  manners,  mimicked  their 
attitudes,  and  finally  turned  them  out  of  the 
presence. 

Q.    How  did  the  chiefs  act  ? 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  35 

A.  They  resented  the  insolence  of  John  by  a 
strong  effort  to  throw  off  the  Anglo-Norman 
power. 

Q.    How  far  did  they  succeed  ? 

A.  Their  triumphs  were  partial.  The  prince 
of  Limerick  destroyed  the  English  garrison  of 
Ardfinnan.  At  Lismore,  Robert  De  Barry  and 
his  entire  troop  were  cut  off.  In  Ossory,  Roger 
De  la  Poer  was  slain,  and  his  force  destroyed. 
Two  gallant  knights,  named  Fitz-Hugh  and  Can- 
ton, were  also  slain  by  the  Irish.  The  English 
garrison  of  Mogeva,  in  Tyrone,  was  routed  with 
great  slaughter  by  O'Loughlin,  prince  of  that 
territory. 

Q.  Was  the  English  power  in  Cork  assailed  by 
the  natives  ? 

A.  Yes;  M'Carthy,  prince  of  Desmond,  very 
nearly  succeeded  in  capturing  the  city.  He  was, 
however,  foiled  by  the  gallant  defence  of  Fitz- 
Walter. 

Q.    Was  the  English  power  in  Meath  attacked  ? 

A.  It  was,  by  the  northern  Irish  ;  who  were 
with  great  loss  and  difficulty  repulsed  by  William 
Petit. 

Q.  When  King  Henry  learned  these  tidings, 
what  steps  did  he  take  ? 

A.  He  recalled  his  foolish  and  profligate  son, 
and  appointed  John  De  Courcy,  earl  of  Ulster, 
lord  deputy  of  Ireland. 

Q.    Did  De  Courcy  put  down  the  insurrection  ? 

A.  Yes.  Even  at  this  most  critical  juncture, 
the  old  curse  of  Ireland  —  the  mutual  quarrels  of 
her  chiefs  —  rendered  them  liable  to  easy  defeat. 

Q.    What  became  of  King  Roderick  O'Connor  ? 

A.  He  was  dethroned  bv  his  own  sons,  and 
ended  his  days  in  the  monastery  of  Cong. 


36  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

Q.  What  schools  did  he  found  and  endow  ? 

A.  The  schools  of  Armao-h. 

Q.  When  did  King  Henry  die? 

A.  In  the  year  1 189,  at  Chinon,  in  Normandy. 


CHAPTER   V. 
The  Reigns  of  Richard  I.,  John,  and  Henri/  Iff. 

Q.    Who  succeeded  Henry  as  king  of  England? 

A.    His  eldest  son,  Richard. 

Q.  Did  King  Richard  assume  the  control  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.  No;  he  left  the  management  of  the  country 
to  his  brother  John,  to  whom  the  late  King  Henry 
had  granted  it. 

Q.    What  was  John's  first  measure? 

A.  He  began  by  removing  De  Courcy  from 
the  office  of  lord  deputy,  and  appointing  Hugh 
De  Lacy  to  the  government. 

Q.    What  was  the  result  of  this  step  ? 

A.  Open  hatred  on  the  part  of  De  Courcy  to 
his  successor. 

Q.    Did  De  Lacy  long  continue  lord  deputy  ? 

A.  No.  He  was  soon  removed  and  replaced 
by  William  Petit,  who,  in  turn,  was  displaced  to 
make  room  for  the  late  Earl  Stronorbow's  son-in- 
law,  William  Earl  Marshal. 

Q.  What  steps  did  the  Lord  Deputy  Earl 
Marshal  take? 

A.  He  proceeded  to  Munster,  to  subdue  the 
insurgents  there. 

Q.    With  what  success  ? 

A.  His  campaign  began  unpromisingly.    O'Bri- 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND,  37 

an,  prince  of  Thomond,  encountered  him  at 
Thurles,  and  overthrew  his  forces,  putting  to  the 
sword  a  great  number  of  kniahts.  The  Engrlish 
were  routed  from  Munster,  with  the  sole  exception 
of  Cork,  which  was  still  retained  by  an  English 
garrison. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  make  any  effort  to  obtain 
Cork  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  M'Carthy  of  Desmond,  who  had  pre- 
viously been  repulsed  from  Cork  by  the  English 
garrison  under  Fitz-Walter,  now  renewed  his  at- 
tack on  the  city  ;  the  army  sent  to  reenforce  the 
defenders  had  been  cut  off  by  the  Irish,  and  the 
garrison,  having  exhausted  their  provisions,  sur- 
rendered to  M'Carthy. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  chiefs  improve  this  success  to 
establish  their  own  power  on  a  lasting  basis? 

A.  Unhappily  not.  M'Carthy,  prince  of  Des- 
mond, jealous  of  the  power  of  O'Brian,  prince  of 
Thomond,  actually  invited  the  English  to  assist 
him  against  his  rival,  and  even  permitted  them  to 
build  the  castle  of  Breginnis  in  Desmond,  the 
better  to  enable  them  to  harass  O'  Brian  ! 

Q.    In  what  year  did  this  occur  ? 

A.    About  the  year  ]  190. 

Q.  Why  do  we  record  these  shameful  squab- 
bles? 

A.  Because  they  show  us  the  true  cause  of 
Ireland's  subjection  to  a  foreign  power.  The  Irish 
had  numberless  opportunities  of  establishing  their 
own  independence,  and  lost  every  one  of  them  by 
their  absurd  and  mischievous  contentions. 

Q.  What  do  modern  Irishmen  learn  from  these 
facts  ? 

A.  They  learn  that,  in  order  to  regain  their 
native   parliament,  it  is   absolutely  necessary  to 

4 


38  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

forget  all  past  dissensions,  and  to  work  together 
as  one  man  —  cordially,  heartily,  perseveringly. 

Q.  You  have  said  that  some  of  the  invading 
chiefs  also  quarrelled  with  each  other :  can  you 
name  any  who  did  so  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  Fitz-Aldelm  De  Burgo,  the  lord  dep- 
uty, seized  on  Raymond  Fitzgerald's  castle  of 
Wicklow. 

Q.    Was  this  the  only  case  of  the  kind  ? 

A.  By  no  means.  Fitz-Aldelm  compelled 
Raymond  Le  Gros,  and  Robert  Fitz-Stephen,  to 
yield  the  lands  they  had  originally  got  to  newer 
invaders ;  and  the  dispossessed  knights  were 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  less  profitable 
territories,  in  a  more  dangerous  part  of  the 
country. 

Q.  Have  you  any  other  instances  of  dissension 
amoncfst  the  English  in  Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes;  Meyler  Fitz-Henry  marched  an  army 
against  De  Burgo  in  Connaught ;  and  De  Lacy, 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  force,  attacked  De 
Courcy  in  Ulster,  De  Lacy  was  also  engaged  in 
war  against  the  young  Earl  of  Pembroke,  whose 
estates  he  had  tried  to  seize. 

Q.    How  did  their  strugrale  end? 

A.  Pembroke  was  destroyed  by  the  treachery 
of  Geoffrv  De  Maurisco,  an  Encrlish  knigrht,  who 
had  promised  to  support  him,  but  who  betrayed 
him  by  suddenly  drawing  off  his  forces  at  the 
moment  of  battle. 

Q.  Did  the  Fitzgerald  family  partake  of  this 
turbulence? 

A.  Yes  ;  they  actually  seized  on  the  lord  dep- 
uty, (Richard  De  Capella,)  and  threw  him  into 
prison  for  his  efforts  to  resist  their  usurpations. 
Civil  war  amoncr  the  Anorlo-Norman  barons  be- 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  39 

came  frequent;  thus  affording  to  the  native  Irish 
many  opportunities  of  freedom,  derived  from  the 
violent  divisions  of  their  invaders. 

Q.    In  what  vear  did  Kino;  John  die  ? 

A.    In  the  vear  1216. 

Q.  What  quarrels,  about  that  time,  disturbed 
Connauorht] 

A.  De  Burgo  usurped  certain  lands  of  Feidlim 
O'Connor's;  the  king  (Henry  III.)  interfered  in 
behalf  of  O'Connor,  and  ordered  the  then  lord 
deputy  (Maurice  Fitzgerald)  to  protect  him  from 
De  Burgo's  rapacity. 

Q.  Who  built  the  magnificent  cathedral  of 
Cashel  ? 

A.    Donald  O'Brian,  prince  of  Thomond. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  he  die  ? 

A.    In  1194. 

Q.  Did  Henry  the  Third  hold  parliaments  in 
Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes;  he  convened  Irish  parliaments  in  the 
years  1253  and  1269. 

Q.  What  do  you  notice  with  respect  to  the 
Irish  parliaments  ? 

A.  I  notice,  that  the  king's  Irish  subjects  en- 
joyed a  domestic  parliament  in  Ireland  from  as 
e  t.rly  a  period  as  his  English  subjects  enjoyed  a 
parliament  in  England. 

Q.  In  what  year  did  Henry  the  Third  die  ? 

A.    In  1272. 


40  CATECHISxM    OF   THE 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Reigns  of  Edward  I.,  IT.,  and  HI. 

Q.  What  remarkable  offer  did  the  Irish  make 
in  the  reicrn  of  Edward  the  First  1 

^4.  The  Irish  princes  offered  the  king  the  sum 
of  8000  marks,  provided  that  the  rights  of  British 
subjects,  enjoyed  by  the  descendants  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers,  should  be  extended  to  the  whole  Irish 
nation. 

Q.    How  did  Edward  treat  the  offer  ? 

A.  He  was  perfectly  willing  to  grant  the 
request. 

Q.    What  prevented  him  from  doing  so  ? 

A.  The  Irish  lords  of  English  descent  opposed 
the  king's  wise  plans  and  the  wishes  of  the  Irish 
people;  for  they  believed  that  to  extend  the  rights 
of  British  subjects  to  the  whole  nation  would 
greatly  abridge  their  own  power  to  oppress  and 
plunder. 

Q.    Was  this  offer  ever  repeated  by  the  Irish  ? 

A.  Yes ;  often  at  later  periods  ;  and  as  often 
defeated  by  the  influence  of  the  Anglo-Irish  lords. 

Q.  Did  Edward  the  First  hold  a  parliament  in 
Ireland  ? 

A.    He  did  ;  in  the  year  1295. 

Q.    When  did  Edward  die  ? 

A.  He  died  whilst  marching  against  the  Scotch, 
in  1307. 

Q.  What  great  victory  did  the  Scotch  gain 
over  the  Engrlish,  in  the  reio-n  of  Edward  the 
Second  ? 

A.  Under  the  command  of  Robert  Bruce,  they 
defeated  the  Eno-lish  at  the  battle  of  Bannockburn. 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  41 

Q.  How  was  this  Scottish  victory  regarded  in 
Ireland  ? 

A.  The  chiefs  of  Ulster,  reorardinor  themselves 
as  allied  in  Celtic  kindred  with  the  victors,  were 
delighted  at  their  triumph,  and  resolved  to  follow, 
if  possible,  so  glorious  an  example. 

Q.    Did  they  make  the  attempt  ? 

A.  Yes ;  Edward  Bruce,  the  brother  of  the 
Scottish  king,  landed  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Ul- 
ster in  May,  1315,  and  was  joined  by  the  princi- 
pal chiefs  of  Ulster. 

Q.    What  followed  ? 

A.  They  seized  on  several  castles;  burned 
Atherdee,  Dundalk,  and  many  other  towns,  and 
speedily  banished  the  English  out  of  Ulster. 

Q.    How  did  the  barons  act? 

A.  Many  of  them  were  willing  to  enter  into 
terms  with  Bruce;  and  even  the  powerful  house 
of  De  Lacy  joined  his  standard. 

Q.    How  did  the  clergy  act  ? 

A.  A  laro;e  number  of  them  declared  in  favor 
of  Bruce. 

Q.    What  was  Bruce's  next  step? 

A.  He  got  himself  solemnly  crowned  king  of 
Ireland,  at  Dundalk.  He  then  marched  south- 
ward, as  provisions  could  no  longer  be  procured 
for  his  army  in  the  north. 

Q.  What  Anglo-Norman  lords  opposed  Edward 
Bruce  ? 

A.  Fitz-Thomas,  the  baron  of  O'Faley,  and 
Butler,  the  lord  deputy,  Fitz-Thomas  was  re- 
warded by  the  kincr  of  England  with  the  title  of 
earl  of  Kildare,  and  Butler  was  created  earl  of 
Carrick, 

Q.    Did  other  lords  follow  their  example  ? 

A.    Yes  ;  several  did  so. 
4* 


42  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

Q.  What  support  did  Bruce  get,  besides  that 
of  the  Ulster  chieftains  I 

A.  Feidlim  O'Connor,  of  Connaught,  declared 
in  his  favor ;  but  this  help  was  soon  cut  off  by  the 
total  defeat  of  Feidlim  at  the  battle  of  Athenree. 

Q.  Who  commanded  the  royalist  army  against 
Feidlim  ? 

A.    Sir  Richard  Berming-hani. 

Q.  Was  Edward  Bruce  dismayed  by  the  defeat 
of  his  ally,  O'Connor,  at  Athenree  ? 

A.  No ;  he  ravaged  the  country  up  to  the  very 
walls  of  Dublin.  He  marched  through  Ossory, 
and   advanced  into   Munster. 

Q.    Was  he  opposed  in  that  province  ? 

A.  Yes;  by  Sir  Roger  Mortimer,  the  new  lord 
deputy,  who  landed  with  a  large  force  at  Water- 
ford.  Bruce,  fearing  to  meet  this  armament, 
hastily  retreated  northward. 

Q.  What  was  the  condition  of  Bruce  in  the 
north  ? 

^4.  It  was  miserable.  His  army  could  get  no 
provisions,  as  the  country  had  been  previously 
wasted;  and  it  is  said  that  his  soldiers,  to  allay  the 
pangs  of  famine,  used  to  eat  the  dead  bodies  of 
their  brethren. 

Q.  Did  Robert  Bruce,  the  Scottish  king,  take 
any  steps  to  relieve  his  brother  Edward  ? 

A.  Yes;  Robert  prepared  to  bring  an  array  to 
assist  him. 

Q.    How  did  Edward  Bruce  act  1 

A.  His  impatience  was  his  ruin.  Instead  of 
waiting  for  the  arrival  of  help  from  Scotland,  he 
led  his  shattered  remnant  of  an  army  against  Sir 
Richard  Bermingham,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
15,000  men.  They  fought  at  Dundalk,  in  1318, 
and  Bruce's  army  was  utterly  routed. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  43 

Q.    What  was  his  own  personal  fate  ? 

A.  He  engaged  in  single  combat  with  an  Eng- 
lish knight,  named  Maupas  or  Malpas;  and  so 
fierce  was  the  encounter,  that  both  were  slain. 

Q.    Did  Robert  Bruce  arrive  in  Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes.  But  he  immediately  returned  to 
Scotland  on  learning  the  fate  of  his  unfortunate 
brother. 

Q.  How  was  Sir  Richard  Bermingham  re- 
warded for  his  victory  over  Edward  Bruce '? 

A.  He  was  created  earl  of  Louth  and  baron 
of  Atherdee. 

Q.  Did  the  great  lords  of  English  descent 
settle  into  a  peaceful  mode  of  living  ? 

A.  Far  from  it.  They  were  as  quarrelsome 
as  the  original  Irish  chiefs.  In  1327,  we  find 
the  Butlers  and  Berminshams  ranged  on  the  side 
of  Maurice  of  Desmond,  in  fierce  civil  war  aorainst 
De  la  Poer  and  the  De  Burgos. 

Q.    What  was  the  cause  of  quarrel? 

A.  De  la  Poer  had  called  Maurice  of  Desmond 
a  poet;  whereupon  Maurice,  in  order  to  mark  his 
indignation  at  the  slander,  very  prosaically  went 
to  war  with  De  la  Poer. 

Q.  What  use  did  the  old  Irish  clans  make  of 
this  circumstance  ? 

A.  They  took  up  arms;  and,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  O' Brian,  prince  of  Thomond,  defeated 
the  Enoflish  in  several  encracrements,  in  Leinster. 

Q.  What  particular  grievance  induced  the 
Irish  clans  to  take  up  arms  just  then? 

A.  They  had  renewed  their  earnest  prayer  to 
be  admitted  to  the  full  privileges  of  British  sub- 
jects ;  which  privileges,  by  the  influence  of  the 
lords  of  English  descent,  had  been  refused  to  them. 

Q.    Did    the   prog;ress  of  time  in   any   degree 


44  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

tend  to  blend  the  two  races  of  English  and  Irish 
into  one  nation  ? 

A.  To  some  extent  it  did  so.  In  spite  of 
bitter  laws  forbidding  intermarriages,  such  unions 
did  take  place;  and  some  of  the  lords  even 
renounced  the  English  name  and  English  Ian- 
guage,  and  adopted  Irish  names  and  used  the 
Irish  tonoriie. 

Q.  What  was  the  description  given  of  those 
who  did  so  ? 

A.  They  were  called  "  Hihernicis  ipsis  Hi- 
herniores.^' 

Q.    What  does  this  phrase  mean  ? 

A.    "  More  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves." 

Q.  Did  the  Anglo-Irish  lords  often  rebel 
against  the  king  of  England? 

A.    Yes  ;  many  of  them  did  so. 

Q.  Who  was  appointed  lord  deputy  of  Ireland 
in  1361 ? 

A.  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence;  the  second  son 
of  Edward  the  Third. 

Q.  What  remarkable  statute  was  passed  during 
Lionel's  vice-royalty? 

A.    The  "  statute  of  Kilkenny." 

Q.    In  what  year  was  it  passed  ? 

A.    In  1367. 

Q.    What  were  its  provisions  ? 

A.  It  forbade,  under  pain  of  high  treason, 
marriage,  fosterage,  or  gossipred  between  persons 
of  English  descent  and  the  old  Irish  families.  It 
also  forbade  all  persons  of  English  descent  to  use 
the  Irish  language,  or  to  adopt  Irish  names. 

Q.  What  other  provisions  did  this  statute 
contain  ? 

A.  It  strictly  forbade  the  king's  subjects  in 
Ireland  to  entertain  in  their  houses  Irish  minstrels, 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  45 

musicians,  or  story-tellers.  It  also  forbade  them 
to  allow  an  Irish  horse  to  graze  upon  their 
lands !  !  ! 

Q.  What  was  the  consequence  of  this  insane 
act? 

A.  Fresh  turmoils,  riots,  civil  wars,  and  in- 
surrections. 

Q.  How  did  it  happen  that  the  conquest  of 
England,  by  the  Normans,  did  not  produce  such 
evils  to  that  country,  as  those  which  followed 
from  the  invasion  of  Ireland  by  the  Anglo-Norman 
settlers  ? 

A.  Because  the  Norman  conquerors  of  England 
fixed  the  royal  seat  of  government  in  England; 
and  by  the  mere  fact  of  residence,  the  government 
became  in  course  of  time  identified  in  national 
feeling  with  that  country.  But  in  Ireland  the 
government  was  not  national  in  its  sentiments 
or  in  its  measures  :  instead  of  ruling  Ireland  for 
the  good  of  its  own  people,  it  ruled  the  country  for 
what  it  deemed  the  good  of  England  ;  and  it  kept 
the  two  races  in  Ireland  from  uniting  with  each 
other  for  the  common  benefit,  as  the  different 
races  in  England  had  done. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Reign  of  Edward  the  Third  concluded. 

Q.  Did  Edward  find  Ireland  a  profitable  pos- 
session ? 

A.  No.  It  was  a  source  of  heavy  expense  to 
him. 

Q.   Did  he  ask  the  Irish  for  supplies  of  money  ? 


46  CATECHIS3I    OF    THE 

A.  He  did  ;  but  they  replied  that  they  had  got 
none  to  give  his  majesty. 

Q.    What  was  Edward's  next  act? 

A.  He  took  a  strange  step.  He  summoned  a 
sort  of  Irish  parliament  to  meet  him  at  West- 
minster ;  consisting  of  two  members  from  each 
county,  two  burgesses  from  each  city  and  borough, 
and  two  priests  from  each  diocese. 

Q.  When  this  odd  sort  of  parliament  had  met, 
how  did  Edward  address  them  ? 

A.  He  complained  of  the  expense  of  governing 
Ireland,  and  demanded  money. 

Q.    What  did  the  Irish  deputies  answer? 

A.  That  their  constituents  had  expressly  pro- 
hibited them  from  granting  his  majesty  any  ;  on 
which  the  kincr  dismissed  them. 

Q.    Was  the  rest  of  his  reig;n  prosperous  ? 

A.  No.  The  barons,  by  their  wars  and  ex- 
actions, rendered  prosperity  impossible. 

Q.  Were  the  contentious  Irish  chiefs  and 
Anglo-Irish  nobles  worse  than  the  same  class  of 
men  in  other  lands? 

A.  No.  In  the  dnys  of  the  Heptarchy,  we 
find  that  the  petty  kings  of  England  were  en- 
gaged in  constant  warfare.  In  later  times,  that 
country  was  ravaged  by  repeated  civil  wars.  And 
in  Scotland,  we  find  that  the  quarrels  of  the 
Scottish  nobles  involved  the  kingdom  in  perpet- 
ual bloodshed  for  centuries. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Edward  the  Third  die  ? 

A.   In  1377. 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  47 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Reign  of  Richard  the  Second. 


Q.    Did  King  Richard  the  Second  visit  Ireland? 

A.  He  did,  in  the  hope  of  quelling  the  dis- 
turbances. 

Q.    How  was  he  received  on  his  arrival  ? 

A.  The  Irish  chiefs  and  the  Analo-Irish  lords 
hastened  to  pay  him  their  homage  and  allegiance. 
Richard  made  a  roval  progress  through  the  kino-- 
dom,  with  great  parade,  and  at  profuse  expense. 

Q.  What  treaty  did  Richard  make  with  Mac 
]\Iurrouo-h,  prince  of  Leinster  ? 

A.  He  stipulated  that  Mac  Murroucrh  and  all 
his  followers  should  quit  Leinster  by  a  certain  day, 
havincr  surrendered  all  their  territories  there  to  his 
majesty,  his  heirs  and  successors. 

Q.  What  compensation  did  King  Richard  give 
Mac  Murroucrh,  for  this  vast  surrender  ? 

A.  His  majestv  gave  full  license  and  encour- 
a(Tement  to  Mac  Murroucrh  to  seize  upon  all  such 
territories  belonging  to  the  Irish  septs  in  any  other 
part  of  the  realm  as  he  could  grasp  by  violence. 
He  also  undertook  to  pay  Mac  Murrough  an  an- 
nual pension  of  eighty  marks. 

Q.    Did  Richard  hold  a  parliament  in  Ireland  ? 

A.    He  did  — in  1395. 

Q.  What  measures  did  he  take  whilst  in  the 
kinordom  ? 

A.  Wiser  and  more  just  ones  than  his  extra- 
ordinary treaty  with  Mac  Murrough  could  lead  ns 
to  expect.  He  provided  learned  and  upright 
judges  for  the  courts  of  law  ;  and  he  tried  to  con- 
ciliate the  four  chief  Irish  princes,  by  conferring 


48  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

upon  them  the  order  of  knighthood,  and  enter- 
taining them  at  a  banquet  at  his  own  table.  It 
appears,  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  from  Dublin 
to  his  Encrlish  council,  that  he  saw  the  advantao-es 
which  might  result  from  a  milder  mode  of  dealing 
with  the  ancient  clans  than  had  been  used  by  any 
previous  monarch. 

Q.  Whom  did  Richard  appoint  as  lord  lieu- 
tenant 1 

A.    His  kinsman,  the  young  earl  of  March. 

Q.    Did  March  find  the  Irish  obedient  ? 

A.  No  ;  as  soon  as  Richard  quitted  Ireland, 
several  clans  broke  out  in  revolt. 

Q.  Did  Mac  Murrough  evacuate  Leinster  ac- 
cording to  his  treaty  ? 

A.  No ;  and  when  required  to  do  so,  he  took 
up  arms  against  the  lord  lieutenant,  who  was 
slain  in  an  engagement  with  the  O'Byrnes  and 
Kavanaorhs.* 

Q.  When  this  news  reached  Richard,  what 
steps  did  he  take  ? 

A.  He  proceeded  once  more  to  Ireland,  in 
order  to  chastise  Mac  Murrough  and  the  confed- 
erated clans. 

Q.    Did  Richard  succeed  ? 

A.  No :  Mac  Murrough  was  safe  in  his  moun- 
tain  fastnesses,  and  could  not  be  brought  to  an 
open  engagement.  Richard's  forces  were  unable 
to  di;:;lodge  the  clans  from  their  rocky  glens  and 
dense  forests ;  and  as  the  country  had  been  greatly 
wasted,  provisions  were  almost  unattainable ;  so 
that  numbers  of  the  English  army  perished  from 
famine, 

Q.    What  was  Richard's  next  measure  1 

*  Mac  Murrough  was  chief  of  the  Kavanaghs. 


HISTORY  OF    IRELAND.  49 

A.  Finding  himself  obliged  to  retreat  from  his 
harassing  enemy,  he  proposed  to  enter  on  a  new 
treaty  with  Mac  Murrough. 

Q.  How  did  Mac  Murrough  receive  this  pro- 
posal ? 

A.    With  scornful  defiance. 

Q.    What  then  happened  to  Richard  ? 

A.  He  was  oblicred  to  return  to  Encrland  to 
oppose  Henry  of  Boiingbroke,  Duke  of  Lancaster, 
who,  during  the  king's  absence  from  that  country, 
had  landed  there  to  claim  the  crown.  Richard 
was  betrayed  into  the  power  of  Lancaster,  and 
thrown  into  prison,  where  he  shortly  afterwards 
died. 


CHAPTER   IX. 
Reigns  of  Henri/  IV.,    F.,  and   VI. 

Q.  What  events  occurred  in  Ireland  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth  1 

A.  The  Irish  chiefs  very  much  enlarged  their 
power, 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  lords  of  English  descent  be- 
come more  national  than  they  had  previously 
been  ? 

A.  Yes ;  they  began  to  feel  that  they  were 
Irishmen.  They,  in  fact,  became  Irish  chieftains; 
and  they  intermarried  frequently  with  the  old 
Milesian  families. 

Q.  Was  there  not  a  law  forbidding  such  mar- 
riages ? 

A.  Yes;  but  that  law  was  now  no  longer  ob- 
served. 

5 


50  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

Q.  On  what  terms  did  the  barons  stand  with 
the  chiefs  of  native  lineacre  ? 

A.  Many  of  them  paid  to  the  chiefs  a  fixed 
tribute  (equivalent  to  the  Scotch  black-mail),  and 
received  their  protection  in  return. 

Q.  Did  the  English  parliament  look  upon  the 
Anglo-Irish  families  with  enmity  I 

A.  Yes  ;  that  parliament  classed  them  to- 
gether with  the  rest  of  the  Irish  people,  in  a 
statute  whereby  it  forbade  "  all  Irish  adventurers 
whatsoever"  to  come  into  England:  at  the  same 
time  ordering  all  who  had  already  come  to  depart 
thence  without  delay. 

Q.  Did  this  law  extend  to  all  the  Irish,  without 
any  exception  ? 

A.  Yes.  It  even  included  the  sons  of  the  Irish 
nobility,  who  were  then  studying  in  the  English 
inns  of  court  and  universities. 

Q.  What  effect  did  this  act  of  banishment  pro- 
duce on  those  who  were  the  objects  of  it  1 

A.  The  Irish  nobility  and  gentry,  stung  with 
the  affront,  returned  home,  to  their  own  country, 
and  used  all  the  means  in  their  power  to  annoy 
the  government. 

Q.    Were  measures  then  changed  ? 

A.  Yes;  the  kino:  (Henry  the  Sixth)  appointed 
the  earl  of  Ormond  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland. 

Q.    Was  that  a  politic  appointment  ? 

A.  In  some  respects  it  was.  He  produced 
peace  at  first  by  his  wise  measures.  But  after 
some  time  he  became  embroiled  with  the  earl  of 
Desmond,  who  mustered  sufficient  force  to  give 
him  battle,  and  after  a  tedious  campaign,  a  truce 
was  agreed  to  by  both  parties. 

Q.  Did  Ormond  long  continue  lord  lieu- 
tenant 1 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  51 

A.  No  ;  his  rivals  had  interest  enough  to  pre- 
vail on  the  king  to  remove  him  ;  and  Talbot,  earl 
of  Shrewsbury,  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

Q.  Who  succeeded  Shrewsbury,  in  the  year 
1449  ? 

A.    Richard,  duke  of  York. 

Q.    Was  he  a  good  viceroy? 

A.  One  of  the  very  best  who  ever  ruled  Ire- 
land. He  observed  strict  good  faith  in  his  treaties 
with  the  Irish  chiefs;  he  felt  for  the  wrongs  of  the 
peasantry,  and  tried  to  improve  their  condition. 

Q.  What  circumstance  called  the  duke  of 
York  from  Ireland  ? 

A.  He  went  to  England  in  order  to  defend 
himself  acraiiist  a  false  charge  that  had  been 
made  ;  namely,  that  he  had  eiicouraged  the  rebel- 
lion of  a  man  named  Jack  Cade  and  his  party. 

Q.    What  occurred  in  England  ? 

A.  There  was  a  rebellion  against  Henry  the 
Sixth,  who  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  the  royal 
power  was  transferred  to  the  duke  of  Y^ork. 

Q.    How  long  did  the  duke  retain  it  ? 

A.  Not  lonor.  Queen  Margaret  assembled  the 
friends  of  her  imprisoned  husband,  and  gained  a 
victory  over  the  Yorkists,  at  Blore  Heath. 

Q.    What  was  the  duke's  next  step? 

A.    He  fled  for  safety  to  Ireland. 

Q.    How  was  he  received  there  ? 

A.  With  the  greatest  joy.  The  Irish  parlia- 
ment passed  an  act  attaching  the  guilt  of  high 
treason  to  any  attempt  that  should  be  made  to 
molest  or  disturb  the  duke  or  his  followers,  under 
pretext  of  writs  from  England;  for  the  English 
parliament  had  previously  attainted  him. 

Q.  Was  the  Irish  act  for  his  protection  vio* 
lated  ? 


S3  CATECHIS3I    OF  THE 

A.  It  was;  by  a  follower  of  the  earl  of  Or- 
mond.     The  delinquent  was  forthwhh  executed. 

Q.    What  was  the  duke's  ultimate  fate  1 

A.  He  returned  to  Engrland,  with  a  numerous 
following  of  his  Irish  adherents,  to  strike  a  blow 
for  the  crown;  but  was  slain,  and  his  army  routed 
by  superior  numbers,  at  the  battle  of  Wakefield. 

Q.  What  declaration  did  the  Irish  parliament 
make  in  the  38th  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry 
the  Sixth  ? 

A.  The  Irish  parliament  in  that  year  declared 
its  own  independence  on  England. 

Q.    In  what  terms  ? 

A.  The  two  houses  declared  that  "  Ireland  is, 
and  nhcays  has  heen^  incorporated  within  itself  by 
ancient  laws  and  customs  ;  and  is  only  to  be  gov- 
erned by  such  laws  as  by  the  lords  and  commons 
of  the  land,  in  parliament  assembled,  have  been 
advised,  accepted,  affirmed  and  proclaimed."  They 
also  declared,  "that  by  custom,  privilege,  and 
franchise,  there  has  ever  been  a  royal  seal  peculiar 
to  Ireland,  to  which  alone  the  king's  subjects  are 
to  pay  obedience." 

Q.  What  was  the  final  result  of  the  civil  war 
in  Enorland? 

A.  Notwithstanding  the  exertions  of  dueen 
Margaret,  her  husband's  power  was  utterly  de- 
stroyed ;  and  the  throne  was  usurped  by  Edward, 
(of  York,)  fourth  king  of  that  name,  in  the  year 
1461. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  53 

CHAPTER   X. 
Reigns  of  Edward  IV.  and  V.,  and  Richard  III. 

Q.  What  was  the  condition  of  Ireland  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Fourth  ? 

A.  At  that  time  the  Irish  people  —  thereby 
meaning  not  only  the  Milesian  clans,  but  also  the 
descendants  of  the  Norman  invaders  who  had  be- 
come thoroughly  Irish  in  their  language,  names, 
manners,  and  sentiments  —  were  so  strong,  as 
compared  with  the  small  English  colony  of  occu- 
pation, that  they  could  with  the  utmost  ease  have 
acquired  for  themselves  the  supreme  government 
of  the  kingdom. 

Q.    And  what  prevented  them  from  doing  so? 

A.  Their  old  sin  of  mutual  discord,  mutual 
enmity,  mutual  distrust.  They  would  not  com- 
bine with  each  other  for  a  common  and  general 
purpose. 

Q.  Had  many  of  the  Anglo-Norman  families 
then  adopted  the  Irish  name  and  nation  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  very  many.  And  to  them,  as  also  to 
the  Irish  chiefs  inhabitinor  the  borders  of  the  Encr- 
lish  pale,  or  district,  did  the  English  inhabitants 
continue,  in  this  reign,  to  pay  the  black-mail,  or 
tribute,  for  protection  from  the  lawless  violence 
of  freebooters. 

Q.  How  did  the  English  government  at  this 
time  use  such  influence  as  it  possessed  ? 

A.  Its  influence  was  used,  as  was  generally  the 
case,  to  insult  and  oppress  the  Irish  people  ;  which 
it  could  not  have  done  if  it  were  not  for  the  weak- 
ness arising  from  the  divisions  of  the  people  them- 
selves. 

5* 


GATECHItfM    OF    THE 

Q.    What  oppressive  measures  were  enacted  ? 

A.  In  the  year  1463,  a  parliament  held  at 
Trim  by  Fitz-Eustace,  lord  Portlester,  made  a 
law,  "that  any  body  may  kill  thieves  or  robbers, 
or  any  person  going  to  rob  or  steal,  having  no 
faithful  men  of  good  name  and  in  the  English 
dress  in  their  company." 

Q.    What  were  the  results  of  this  law  ? 

A.  It  gave  a  great  facility  to  the  English  in- 
habitants to  murder  their  Irish  neiijhbors  ;  since 
it  was  sufficient  justification  for  the  crime  to  allege 
•*  that  the  deceased  had  been  going  to  rob  or 
steal."' 

Q.  What  other  enactment  was  made  by  that 
parliament  I 

A.  It  enacted,  on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  goods, 
that  all  the  Irish  who  inhabited  the  English  dis- 
trict should  take  English  names,  wear  the  English 
dress,  and  swear  allegiance. 

Q.  What  other  act  was  passed  against  the 
people  in  this  reign  ? 

A.  In  a  parliament  over  which  the  English 
bishop  of  Meath,  William  Sherwood,  presided,  it 
was  enacted  that  any  Englishman,  injured  by  any 
Irishman  beyond  the  pale,  might  avenge  himself 
on  the  entire  clan  to  which  the  acrorressor  be- 
longed. 

Q.  What  circumstances  prevented  all  the  in- 
habitants of  Ireland  from  makinor  common  cause 
with  each  other,  and  blendinjj  tofjether  in  one 
great  national  mass  ? 

A.  We  have  seen  already  that  the  unhappy  dis- 
position of  the  people  to  quarrel  among  them- 
selves fatally  weakened  them.  But  there  was 
another  cause. 

Q.    What  was  that  ? 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  55 

A.  The  nature  of  the  government,  which  was 
almost  always  opposed  to  the  people,  and  regarded 
them  not  as  friends  and  subjects,  but  as  enemies. 
This  adverse  power  was  sustained,  not  only  by  the 
mutual  jealousies  which  it  fomented  amongst  the 
people,  but  also  by  fresh  streams  of  English  ad- 
venturers, who  continually  poured  into  the  country, 
bringiug  with  them  a  perpetual  supply  of  bitter 
hatred  to  the  natives. 

Q.    What  lesson  do  we  learn  from  this  ? 

A.  That  we,  —  the  Irish  people, — must  cast 
aside  all  jealousies  of  every  sort  whatsoever,  of 
race,  o{  creed,  and  o^  party ;  and  stand  firmly 
(but  peaceably)  together:  otherwise  we  can  never 
obtain  for  our  country  the  first  of  all  political 
blessinors  —  self-crovernment. 

Q.  Does  not  the  conquest*  of  Ireland  by  the 
Anglo-Normans  destroy  the  right  of  the  Irish 
people  to  a  resident  Irish  parliament? 

A.  No  more  than  the  conquest  of  England  by 
the  Normans  destroyed  the  right  of  the  English 
people  to  a  resident  English  parliament.  Our 
right  is  as  ancient  as  theirs,  and  we  never,  by  any 
act  of  ours,  surrendered  it. 

Q.  What  was  the  fate,  in  this  reign,  of  the 
earl  of  Ormond  1 

A.  Kinor  Edward  beheaded  him  for  havinor 
favored  the  late  monarch,  Henry  the  Sixth. 

Q.  Did  the  old  clan-feud  between  the  Butlers 
and  Geraldines  still  continue  ? 

A.    Yes;  and  the  former  were  freshly  exasper- 


*  1  do  not  use  the  word  "  conquest"  in  its  military  meaning, 
in  which  sense  it  certainly  cannot  be  applied  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  Stronghow  and  Henry  the  Second,  in  Ireland.  I  merely 
use  the  phrase  as  expressive  of  the  fact,  that  the  anti-national 
party  got  the  upper  hand  in  Ireland. 


56  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

ated  by  the  attainder  and  execution  of  the  earl, 
their  chieftain. 

Q.  What  were,  at  this  time,  the  war-cries  of 
the  several  clans  ? 

A.  '' Croom-aboo !  "  was  the  war^shout  of 
the  Geraldines;  literally  meaning  ''Hurrah  for 
Croom !  ''  from  the  castle  of  that  name  in  the 
county  Limerick  belonging  to  the  earl  of  Kildare. 
In  like  manner,  "  Butler-abool  "  was  the  war-cry 
of  the  followers  of  Ormond  ;  "  Shannat-aboo  !  " 
was  that  of  the  Geraldines  of  Desmond,  from  the 
castle  of  Shannat,  where  their  chief,  tlie  great 
earl,  held  a  rude  court, 

Q.  What  was  the  war-crv  of  the  O'Brians  of 
Thomond  ? 

A.  "  Lamh-laider-aboo!  "  —  or  "Hurrah  for 
the  strong  hand  !  '* 

Q.    That  of  the  O'Neills? 

A.  "  Lamh-dhearo--aboo  !  "  —  or  "Hurrah  for 
the  red  (or  bloody)  hand  !  "  The  Fitzpatricks 
of  Ossory  adopted,  as  their  war-cry,  "  Geai-laider- 
aboo  !  "  —  or,  "  Hurrah  for  the  sharp  and  strong  !  " 
And  the  gatherino-.shouts  of  all  the  clans  con- 
tained  similar  allusions,  either  to  the  castles  of 
their  residence,  or  to  some  quality  on  which  they 
prided  themselves. 

Q.  Of  what  description  were  the  native  Irish 
soldiery  of  that  period  ? 

A.  The  cavalry  of  the  chiefs  and  barons  were 
mounted  on  small,  but  very  strong  and  active 
horses.  These  horses  were  called  "  hobbies," 
and  their  riders  "  hobellers."  From  all  ancient 
accounts  it  appears  that  the  Irish  were  eminently 
skilful  as  horsemen ;  and  active  and  dexterous  in 
the  use  of  their  weapons  on  horseback. 

Q.    What  were  their  weapons? 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  57 

A.  Short  spears  and  sabres ;  also  battle-axes. 
They  had  scarcely  any  armor. 

Q.    Describe  the  foot-soldiers,  or  infantry. 

A.  Of  these  there  were  two  sorts  ;  a  heavily 
armed  infantry,  called  "  gallogl  isses  ;  "  accou- 
tered  with  iron  head-pieces,  efficient  coats  of 
armor,  and  bearing  a  broad  axe  and  sword. 

Q.    How  were  the  light  infantry  accoutred  ? 

A.  They  wore  little  or  no  armor  save  the  iron 
head-piece  ;  they  bore  a  long  spevir  or  javelin,  and 
a  lonor  knife  called  a  skian. 

Q.  Did  the  quarrel  of  the  Butlers  and  Geral- 
dines  disturb  this  entire  reicrn  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  their  unhappy  contentions  were  pro- 
tracted, with  varying  fortune;  the  Butlers  some- 
times gaining  the  advantage,  and  the  Geraldines 
again  recovering  the  mastery.  In  reward  of  Des- 
mond's service  in  defeating  the  Butlers  of  Wex- 
ford, Edward  made  Desmond  lord  deputy  of 
Ireland. 

Q.    What  was  his  first  act  as  lord  deputy  ? 

A.  He  made  war  upon  the  Irish  septs  in 
Meath. 

Q.    Did  he  defeat  them  ? 

A.  No;  they  took  him  prisoner.  He  was, 
however,  soon  set  free  by  his  friend  O'Connor  of 
O'Fally. 

Q.    What  was  his  next  act  ? 

A.    He  made  war  on  O'Brian  of  Thomond. 

Q.    With  w^hat  success? 

A.  O'Brian  gained  a  rapid  advantage  over  the 
lord  deputy,  who  bought  him  off  by  engaging  that 
he  should  be  paid  a  regular  tribute. 

Q.  Was  Desmond  removed  from  the  govern- 
ment for  these  failures  ? 


58  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

A.  No ;  the  king  continued  him  in  the  viceroy- 
alty  ;  until  at  last  the  queen  became  his  enemy. 

Q.    How  did  he  offend  the  queen  ?  * 

A.  By  speaking  incautiously  of  the  meanness 
of  her  birth. 

Q.    What  steps  were  tlien  taken  to  destroy  him  ? 

A.  He  was  removed  from  his  office;  supplanted 
by  lord  deputy  Tiptoft;  attainted  by  parliament  on 
several  charges,  and  executed  without  a  trial. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  how  did  the  Butlers  conduct 
themselves  ? 

A.  John  of  Ormond,  the  late  earl's  eldest 
livinor  brother,  contrived  to  obtain  the  favor  of 
the  kina. 

Q.  What  benefit  did  the  Butler  family  derive 
from  the  royal  favor  ? 

A.  An  act  of  parliament  was  obtained,  repeal- 
ing the  former  act  of  attainder  and  forfeiture,  and 
restoring  the  old  honors  and  estates  to  the  heir  of 
Ormond. 

Q.  How  long  did  the  Butlers  continue  upper- 
most ? 

A.  Not  very  long;  we  find  the  earl  of  Kildare 
made  lord  deputy  in  1478. 

Q.  Did  not  the  king  desire  to  remove  Kildare, 
and  appoint  Lord  Grey  to  that  office? 

A.  He  did;  but  Kildare  held  the  office  in  de- 
fiance of  the  king ;  and  so  strongly  was  he  sup- 
ported, that  the  viceroy  appointed  by  the  king  was 
obliged  to  quit  Ireland. 

Q.  What  Milesian  alliance  did  the  earl  of  Kil- 
dare make  ? 

A.  He  2ave  his  daugrhter  in  marriaore  to  the 
son  of  the  chief  of  the  O'Neills, 

*  Elizabeth  Grey. 


HISTORY   OF   IRELArs'D.  §9 

Q.  What  use  did  Kildare  make  of  the  influ- 
ence he  gained  by  this  connection  ? 

A.  He  used  his  influence  to  preserve  Ireland 
in  peace  during  the  short,  feeble  reign  of  Edward 
the  Fifth,  and  the  short  reign  of  Richard  the 
Third. 

Q.   In  what  year  did  Richard  the  Third  die  ? 

A,  He  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth,  in 
1435. 


CHAPTER   XL 

The  Reign  of  Henry   VII. 

Q.  When  Henry  the  Seventh  ascended  the 
throne,  whom  did  he  appoint  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.  He  continued  the  earl  of  Kildare  in  that 
office. 

Q.  What  remarkable  event  occurred  in  Ireland 
in  14S6  ? 

A.  A  low  impostor,  named  Simnel,  arrived  in 
Dublin,  accompanied  by  one  Richard  Simons,  an 
Oxford  priest,  who  had  trained  him  to  personate 
the  earl  of  Warwick. 

Q.    Who  was  the  earl  of  Warwick  ? 

.i.  Son  of  the  late  duke  of  Clarence,  and 
grandson  of  the  duke  of  York  who  had  been 
viceroy  of  Irehnd. 

Q.  Where  was  the  earl  of  Warwick  at  that 
time  ? 

A.    In  the  prison  of  the  Tower  of  London. 

Q.    Why  did  the  king  detain  him  there  ? 

A.    From  his  jealous  fears  lest  Warwick,  who 


60  CATECHISM   OF    THE 

was  heir  to  the  house  of  York,  should  lay  claim  to 
the  throne. 

Q.  How  was  the  impostor,  Simnel,  received  in 
Ireland  1 

A.  His  tale  was  believed.  He  was  received  by 
Kildare,  and  many  other  leadincr  Irishmen,  as  their 
lawful  king ;  and,  as  such,  he  was  crowned  in 
Dublin,  under  the  title  of  Edward  the  Sixth. 

Q.    What  then  bee  tme  of  him  ? 

A.  He  went  to  England  to  give  battle  to  Henry 
the  Seventh ;  was  defeated  and  made  prisoner, 
and  employed  by  the  king  as  a  scullion  in  the 
royal  kitchen, 

Q.  How  did  the  Irish  lords  and  chiefs  employ 
themselves  ? 

A.    In  petty  wars. 

Q.    Mention  some  of  them. 

A.  The  Geraldines  of  Desmond  defeated  the 
JM'Carthys  and  O'Carrols,  and  obtained  large 
tracts  of  their  lands.  The  lord  lieutenant's  broth- 
er-in-law, O'Neill,  went  to  war  with  the  chief  of 
Tyrconnell. 

Q.    What  was  their  quarrel  about  ? 

A.  Tribute.  O'Neill  had  written  to  Tyrcon- 
nell, "Send  me  tribute;    or  else "  To  this 

Tyrconnell  answered,  "  I   owe   you   none  ;    and 
if " 

Q.  What  was  the  result  of  the  war  that  fol- 
lowed ? 

A.    The  clan  of  the  O'Neills  were  defeated. 

Q.    Who  was  Perkin  Warbeck  ? 

A.  He  was  an  impostor,  calling  himself  duke 
of  York,  the  second  son  of  Edward  the  Fourth. 

Q.    When  did  he  land  in  Ireland  ? 

A.    He  landed  at  Cork  in  1492. 

Q.    Did  he  raise  any  faction  in  Ireland? 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  61 

A.  Nowhere  except  among  the  citizens  of 
Cork. 

Q.    How  long  did  he  remain  in  Ireland? 

A.  Only  for  a  few  weeks,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  departed  to  France. 

Q.    Who  was  lord  lieutenant  in  1494  ? 

A.    Sir  Edward  Poynings. 

Q.  What  was  enacted  by  the  remarkable  law 
called  "  Poynings's  Act?  " 

A.  It  enacted  that,  prior  to  the  holdinor  of  any 
parliament  in  Ireland,  the  lord  lieutenant  and 
privy  council  should  first  certify  to  the  king  the 
causes  of  assembling  such  parliament ;  specifying 
also  such  acts  as  they  deemed  it  requisite  to  pass. 

Q.  Was  this  law  an  infraction  of  the  rights  of 
the  king's  Irish  subjects  ? 

A.    Yes ;  a  very  grievous  one. 

Q.  But  did  the  Irish  thereby,  in  any  degree, 
forfeit  their  full  inherent  riofht  to  self-lesfisla- 
tion  ? 

A.  By  no  means;  any  more  than  the  English 
nation  would  forfeit  their  ricrht  to  self-sfovernment 
by  any  servile  surrender  of  power  on  the  part  of 
their  parliament. 

Q.  What  is  the  duty  of  the  people  in  regard 
to  all  such  unjust  laws  ? 

A.  To  obey  them  so  long  as  they  are  laws; 
but  to  struggle  in  every  legal,  peaceful  mode  to 
get  them  repealed. 

Q.  Did  Perkin  Warbeck  land  again  in  Ire- 
land ? 

A.  He  did ;  but  being  defeated  at  Waterford, 
he  fled  to  Scotland. 

Q,  Did  the  Butlers,  at  this  time,  try  to  ruin 
the  earl  of  Kildare? 

A.  Yes;  they  had  got  him  attainted  by  Poy- 
6 


62  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

nings's  parliament,  and  he  now    was  obliged   to 
meet  his  accuser  in  the  king's  presence. 

Q.    In  what  year  was  that  ? 

A.    In  the  year  1490. 

Q.  When  the  parties  were  met,  what  did  the 
king  say  to  Kildare  ? 

A.  He  advised  him  to  procure  for  himself  the 
help  of  able  counsel. 

Q.    What  was  Kildare's  answer? 

A.  "  I  choose  the  best  counsel  in  the  realm," 
said  he,  seizing  the  king's  hand.  "  I  take  your 
majesty  to  be  my  counsel  against  these  false 
knaves" 

Q.    Did  the  king  resent  this  freedom? 

A.  No ;  he  looked  on  it  as  a  proof  that  Kil- 
dare was  honest. 

Q.    What  was  alleored  against  Kildare  ? 

A.  High  treason  was  alleged  against  him,  but 
he  easily  cleared  himself 

Q,    Was  any  other  charge  made  1 

A.  Yes ;  he  was  accused  of  burning  the  church 
of  Cashel. 

Q.   What  was  his  defence? 

A.  "It  is  true,"  said  he,  "  that  I  burned  the 
church.  But  I  did  so  because  I  thought  the  arch- 
bishop  was  in  it. 

Q.    What  effect  did  this  defence  produce  ? 

A.  The  oddity  of  it  convulsed  the  king  and  all 
present  with  laughter. 

Q.   What  did  Kildare's  accusers  then  say? 

A.  "  All  Ireland,"  said  they,  *'  cannot  govern 
this  earl." 

Q.    What  was  the  king's  answer? 

A.  ''  Then  this  earl  shall  govern  all  Ireland  ;  " 
whereupon  he  immediately  made  Kildare  lord 
lieutenant  of  the  kingdom. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  63 

Q.  How  did  Kildare  discharge  the  duties  of 
that  office  ? 

A.  As  soon  as  he  was  taken  into  the  kinor's 
confidence,  he  went  to  war  against  his  own  fellow- 
countrymen. 

Q.    Where  —  and  on  what  account? 

^4.  He  brought  the  king's  troops  against  his 
son-in-law,  Ulick  De  Burgo,  in  Connaught,  to 
punish  that  chief  for  maltreating  his  wife,  who 
was  Kildare's  dauorhter. 

Q.    What  clans  assisted  De  Burgo? 

A.  The  O'Brians,  and  other  tribes  from 
Munster. 

Q.    Who  were  Kildare's  confederates  ? 

A.  All  the  Geraldines,  many  lords  of  the  pale, 
and  his  ally  and  relative  O'Neill,  with  a  numerous 
followino". 

Q.    Where  was  the  quarrel  decided  ? 

A.    At  the  battle  of  Knocktow,  near  Galway. 

Q.    Who  gained  the  victory  ? 

A.    Kildare. 

Q.  WHiat  remarkable  proof  of  the  ancient 
English  hatred  of  Irishmen  did  Lord  Gormanstown 
then  give? 

A.  After  the  battle,  he  said  to  Kildare,  "  We 
have  beaten  our  enemies  ;  but  in  order  to  finish 
the  good  work,  we  ought  now  to  cut  the  throats 
of  the  Irish  who  have  helped  us  to  do  so." 

Q.    Was  this  advice  acted  on  ? 

A.  No  ;  it  would  have  been  inconvenient,  for 
it  would  have  weakened  the  conquering  party 
very  much. 

Q.  Was  there  any  other  reason  for  not  acting 
on  it? 

A.  Yes;  the  bad  feeling  expressed  by  Lord 
Gormanstown  was  not  then  very  general :  it  had 


64  CATECHISxM   OF    THE 

been  softened  away  by  many  intermarriages  be- 
tween the  ancient  Irish  clans  and  the  Anglo-Irish 
families. 

Q.  Are  there  any  Lord  Gormanstowns  in  Ire- 
land at  the  present  day  ? 

A.  Unluckily  there  are ;  there  are  many  un- 
natural Irishmen  who  hate  their  native  land,  and 
are  ever  ready  to  help  the  English  government  to 
oppress  and  spoliate  their  own  fellow-countrymen, 

Q.    What  is  the  reason  of  this  ? 

A.  Because  the  power  that  rules  Ireland  is  an 
English,  not  an  Irish  power ;  and  so  long  as  the 
ruling  power  is  unfriendly,  so  long  will  every 
base,  bad  spirit  in  the  land  adopt  that  unfriend- 
liness, in  order  to  pay  its  court  to  the  ruling 
influence. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Henry  the  Seventh  die? 

A.   In  1509. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

Q.  Did  King  Henry  the  Eighth  continue  Kil- 
dare  as  lord  deputy  ? 

A.  Yes;  until  Kildare  happened  to  incur  the 
jealousy  of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  on  which  that 
prelate  procured  his  removal. 

Q.   Who  was  appointed  in  his  place  ? 

A.    The  earl  of  Surrey. 

Q.    What  events  took  place  in  this  reign  ? 

A.  Ormond  had  invaded  the  territory  of  Osso- 
ry,  and  plundered  Mac  Gilla  Patrick,  or  Fitz- 
Patrick,  the  prince  of  it. 

Q.    What  steps  did  Fitz-Patrick  take? 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  65 

A.  He  sent  an  envoy  to  the  king  to  state  his 
complaints. 

Q.    Did  the  king  interfere  in  the  case  ? 

A.  No ;  Ormond  was  allowed  to  ravage  Os- 
sory  with  impunity. 

Q.    What,  at  last,  checked  him? 

A.  The  power  of  Kildare,  who  contrived  to 
make  his  peace  with  the  king,  and  was  reappoint- 
ed lord  deputy. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  how  was  the  earl  of  Desmond 
actincr  ? 

A.  He  assumed  the  dignity  and  privileges  of  a 
sovereign  prince. 

Q.    In  what  manner  ? 

A.  He  claimed  a  right  to  absent  himself  from 
parliament ;  and  also  of  being  never  obliged  to 
enter  a  fortified  town. 

Q.  What  use  was  made  of  these  claims  to 
sovereignty  ? 

A.  Francis,  king  of  France,  learning  Des- 
mond's pretensions,  endeavored  to  raise  a  domes- 
tic commotion  in  Ireland  through  his  agency,  for 
the  purpose  of  embarrassing  England. 

Q.  How  did  Desmond  receive  the  French 
king's  proposals  ? 

A.  His  vanity  was  flattered  at  being  treated  as 
a  sovereign  prince  by  so  powerful  a  monarch,  and 
he  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Francis. 

Q.    What  were  the  results  ? 

A.  Before  the  treaty  could  be  acted  upon, 
Francis  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pavia. 

Q.    And  what  became  of  Desmond  ? 

A.  The  king  determined  to  punish  him,  and 
sent  orders  to  Kildare  to  that  effect. 

Q.    Did  Kildare  execute  the  orders  ? 

A.  No;  he  did  not  like  to  be  made  the  acrent 
6* 


66  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

of  his  kinsman's  punishment ;  and  taking  advan- 
tage of  some  riots  in  Ulster,  he  marched  into  that 
province  under  pretext  of  suppressing  them. 

Q.    Did  the  king  resent  Kildare's  disobedience? 

A.  Yes;  he  required  him  to  proceed  to  London 
to  account  for  his  conduct. 

Q.    What  arrangements  did  Kildare  make? 

A.  He  supplied  all  his  own  castles  with  arms 
and  ammunition  from  the  king's  stores.  He  com- 
mitted  the  government  to  his  son  Lord  Thomas 
Fitzgerald,  who  was  only  twenty  years  of  age  ; 
and  he  then  proceeded  to  London. 

Q.    How  was  he  treated  on  arriving  in  London? 

A.    He  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower. 

Q.  How  did  his  son,  Lord  Thomas,  act  in 
Ireland? 

A.  Having  been  excited  by  a  false  report  of 
his  father's  execution,  Lord  Thomas  rushed  into 
the  privy-council  chamber  in  Dublin,  followed  by 
one  hundred  and  forty  armed  retainers,  and  there 
renounced  his  allegiance  to  King  Henry. 

Q.    Whit  was  Lord  Thomas's  next  step  ? 

-4.  He  quitted  the  astonished  council,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  wagre  war  on  the  orarrison  of  Dublin. 

Q.    With  what  success  ? 

A.  He  was,  at  first,  easily  defeated,  from  the 
fewness  of  his  supporters ;  but  retiring  from  Dub- 
lin, and  joining  the  O'Connors  and  O'Neills,  he 
speedily  increased  his  power. 

Q.    What  steps  were  taken  against  him  ? 

A.  The  new  lord  lieutenant.  Sir  William  Skef- 
fington,  besieged  the  castle  of  Maynooth,  the  best 
stronghold  of  the  Fitzgeralds. 

Q.    Did  the  castle  make  a  gallant  defence  ? 

A.  Yes;  it  held  out  for  fourteen  days;  and 
Skeffington  was  about  to  retire  from  before  it, 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAx\D.  67 

when  it  was  placed  in  his  power  by  the  treachery 
(as  is  alleged)  of  the  foster-brother  of  Lord 
Thomas. 

Q.    How  did  Skeffington  reward  the  traitor  ? 

A.  He  paid  him  the  stipulated  price  of  his 
treachery,  and  then  had  him  hanged. 

Q.  What  effect  did  the  taking  of  Maynooth 
produce  on  Lord  Thomas's  fortunes  ? 

A.  Many  of  his  followers,  dispirited  at  the 
news,  dispersed ;  but  with  those  who  still  re- 
mained, he  made  himself  so  formidable  in  an  ir- 
reofular  warfare  amona  the  defiles  and  woods,  that 
Lord  Grey,  the  English  commander,  solemnly 
promised  him  protection  if  he  should  surrender 
himself 

Q.  Did  Lord  Thomas  confide  in  the  English- 
man's promise  ? 

A.    He  did,  and  gave  himself  up. 

Q.    How  did  Lord  Grey  then  treat  him? 

A.    He  sent  him  prisoner  to  England. 

Q.    How  else  did  he  treat  the  Fitzgeralds  ? 

A.  He  invited  five  uncles  of  Lord  Thomas  to 
a  feast ;  in  the  midst  of  which  he  treacherously 
seized  them,  and  sent  them  in  custody  to  England. 

Q.  What  was  Henry's  conduct  to  these  five 
unoffending  men  ] 

A.  He  had  them  all  hanged  at  Tyburn,  togeth- 
er with  the  unfortunate  Lord  Thomas. 

Q.    What  great  event  took  place  in  this  reign? 

A.  The  king  rejected  the  pope's  supremacy 
over  the  church,  and  set  up  his  own  supremacy 
in  place  of  it. 

Q.  Did  many  of  the  Irish  people  abandon  the 
Catholic,  and  embrace  the  Protestant,  religion  1 

A.  Scarcely  any  ;  the  great  bulk  of  the  people 
adhered   to  the   old    Catholic   faith;    some   few 


68  CATECHIS3I    OF   THE 

persons  in  connection  with  the  government  adopt- 
ed the  new  religion. 

Q.  What  were  the  effects  of  this  change  of 
religion  on  the  country? 

A.  It  gave  some  new  pretexts  to  the  English 
disposition  to  spoliate  and  persecute  Ireland.  But 
in  truth  England,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant, 
had,  at  all  times  since  their  connection,  treated 
Ireland  with  treachery  and  cruelty. 

Q.  How  did  the  government  dispose  of  the 
property  that  had  belonged  to  the  Catholic  church  ? 

A.  They  transferred  the  tithes  to  the  Protestant 
clergy,  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  abbey  lands 
to  powerful  laymen ;  thus  throwing  on  the  Catho- 
lic people  of  Ireland  the  support  o^ two  churches: 
their  own,  and  the  new  one. 

Q.    What  was  the  fate  of  Lord  Deputy  Grey  ? 

A.  Some  charges  having  been  made  against 
him,  he  was  convicted,  and  hanged  at  Tyburn  by 
the  orders  of  Henry. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Henry  die  1 

A.    In  1537. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 
Reigns  of  Edward   VI.  and  Mary  I. 

Q.  What  was  the  first  exploit  of  the  new  king's 
government  in  Ireland? 

A.  Some  disturbances  having  been  excited  in 
Leix  and  Offalley,  the  English  government  in- 
duced the  chiefs  of  those  districts,  O'Moore  and 
O'Connor,  to  proceed  to  England;  promising  that 
Edward   would  show  them  favor  similar  to  that 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  69 

which  his  father  had  shown  to  O'Neill   in  like 
circumstances. 

Q.    Did  the  chiefs  confide  in  this  promise  ? 

A.  Yes ;  and  they  accordingly  repaired  to 
London. 

Q.  Did  the  English  government  perform  their 
promises  ? 

A.  No;  O'Moore  and  O'Connor  were  thrown 
into  prison,  and  their  lands  were  seized  and  given 
to  English  adventurers. 

Q.    What  became  of  those  chiefs  ? 

A.  O'Moore  soon  died  in  prison;  O'Connor 
lingered  out  some  weary  years  in  his  confine- 
ment. 

Q.  What  was  the  next  measure  of  the  govern- 
ment ? 

A.  They  tried  to  propagate  the  Reformation 
in  Ireland. 

Q.    How  did  they  begin  ? 

A.  Saint  Leger  was  sent  as  lord  deputy  to 
Ireland  for  that  purpose. 

Q.    What  means  were  used  under  his  auspices? 

A.  In  Athlone  a  band  of  soldiers  proceeded 
fro;ii  the  garrison  to  ravage  the  old  church  of 
Clonm;icnoise.  Similar  acts  of  riot  and  outrage 
were  committed  in  various  other  ecclesiastical 
buildings  throughout  the  kingdom. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Edward  the  Sixth  die  1 

A.   In  lo5'3. 

Q.    Who  succeeded  him  ? 

A.    His  sister,  Mary  Tudor. 

Q.    Did  she  favor  the  Reformation? 

A.  No ;  in  England  she  cruelly  persecuted 
its  professors,  and  caused  numbers  to  be  burned 
to  death  for  their  belief 

Q.    How   did   the   Irish   Catholics   act,   when 

ROSTON  COLLEGE  LIBU -iUVT 


70  CATECHISxM    OF    THE 

their  old  reliorion  was  restored  to  its  ancient 
power  and  possessions  in  this  reign?    * 

A.  They  acted  with  the  utmost  forbearance. 
They  did  not  injure  a  single  person  in  the  slightest 
particular  for  professing  a  creed  that  differed  from 
their  own ;  and  when  the  blood-thirsty  queen  was 
persecuting  the  Protestants  in  England,  the  Cath- 
olic corporation  of  Dublin  opened  74  houses  in 
Dublin  at  their  own  expense,  to  receive  and 
shelter  the  Protestants  who  sought  refuae  in  Ire- 
land  from  the  fury  of  the  English  government. 

Q.    What  do  you  think  of  such  conduct  ? 

A.  That  it  was  a  glorious  proof  of  Irish 
tolerance  and  charity ;  and  fully  demonstrated 
the  fitness  of  the  Irish  Catholics  for  reliorious 
freedom. 

Q.  Did  the  clans  of  Leix  and  OfTalley,  who  had 
been  deprived  of  their  lands  in  the  reign  of 
Edward,  appeal  to  Queen  Mary  to  restore  them  ? 

A.    Yes. 

Q.  What  was  the  answer  given  by  the  govern- 
ment ? 

A.  They  sent  a  strong  military  force  to  extir- 
pate the  inhabitants  from  the  soil  of  their  fore- 
fathers ;  and  the  troops  committed  the  most 
horrible  barbarities,  which  ended  in  a  general 
massacre  of  the  people. 

Q.    Were  any  saved  ? 

A.  Yes ;  a  small  remnant,  whom  the  earls  of 
Ossory  and  Kildare  exerted  themselves  to  protect. 

Q.    What  were  the  districts  thenceforth  called? 

A.  *'  King's  County,"  and  "  Queen's  County ;  " 
and  their  principal  towns  were  named  "  Philips- 
town,"  and  "  Maryborough,"  in  honor  of  the 
sovereign  and  her  husband. 

Q.   In  what  year  did  dueen  Mary  die  ? 

A    In  1558. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  71 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  Reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Q.   In  what  state  was  Ireland  at  the  time  of 

Queen  Elizabeth's  accession  ? 

A.   In  a  state  of  universal  disturbance. 

Q.    What  cause  disturbed  Connaught? 

A.  The  two  great  branches  of  the  house  of 
De  Burgo  were  struggling  with  each  other  for 
the  mastery. 

Q.    What  circumstances  agitated  Leinster  ? 

A.  The  remnant  that  had  escaped  from  the 
massacre  in  Leix  and  Offalley  roamed  over  that 
entire  province  in  small  parties,  marauding  where- 
ever  they  could,  to  indemnify  themselves  for  their 
losses  and  sufferingrs. 

Q.    What  contentions  existed  in  Munster  ? 

A.  The  chieftaincy  of  the  northern  division 
of  the  province  was  warmly  contested  between 
the  earl  of  Thomond  and  Daniel  O'Bryan.  The 
Butlers  and  Geraldines  were  also  at  war  with  each 
other. 

Q.    In  what  condition  was  Ulster  ? 

A.  John  O'Neill  was  speedily  acquiring  the 
dominion  of  the  whole  of  Ulster. 

Q.  Whom  did  Elizabeth  appoint  as  lord  lieu- 
tenant ? 

A.  The  earl  of  Sussex;  who,  on  departing  for 
England,  entrusted  his  government  to  the  hands 
of  Sir  Henry  Sidney. 

Q.  Did  Sidney  call  upon  O'Neill  to  account 
for  his  proceedings  ? 

A.  Yes;  he  invited  him  to  the  English  camp 
for  the  purpose  of  a  conference. 

BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIRHARV 


t2  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

Q.   Did  O'Neill  accept  the  invitation  ? 

A.  No ;  he  remembered  how  O'Moore  and 
O'Connor  had  been  entrapped,  and  he  v/isely 
declined. 

Q.   What,  then,  was  his  answer  to  Sidney  ? 

A.  He  excused  himself  by  saying  he  was 
encraged  in  havins:  his  child  christened  with  due 
pomp ;  and  he  invited  Sidney  to  attend  the  cere- 
mony as  the  infant's  godfather. 

Q.    Did  Sidney  comply  ? 

A.  He  did ;  and  he  was  much  surprised  at 
the  courtly  magnificence  with  which  the  Irish 
chieftain  entertained  him. 

Q.  How  did  they  arrange  the  dispute  between 
O'Neill  and  the  government  ? 

A.  O'Neill,  by  the  statement  of  his  wrongs, 
made  a  very  favorable  impression  upon  Sidney,  who 
advised  him  to  rely  for  full  justice  on  Elizabeth's 
sense  of  honor  and  of  ricrht. 

Q.  Did  O'Neill  agree  to  leave  matters  to  the 
queen's  decision  '? 

A.  He  did;  and  he  and  Sidney  parted  from 
each  other  on  terms  of  friendship. 

Q.    Did  Sussex  soon  return  from  England  ? 

A.  Yes;  and,  according  to  Elizabeth's  instruc- 
tions, he  immediately  set  about  procuring  laws  to 
be  passed  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  English 
religion  ;  which,  during  the  reign  of  Mary,  had 
been  deprived  of  the  tithes  and  other  state  en- 
dowments. 

Q.    What  acts  were  passed  for  this  purpose  ? 

A.  The  appointment  of  bishops  was  vested  in 
the  sovereign  ;  and  heavy  penalties  were  inflicted 
upon  all  who  would  not  attend  the  new  worship. 

Q.    How  were  the  priesthood  treated  ? 

A.   They  were   expelled   from  their   cures  by 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  73 

the  civil  power ;  and  Protestant  clergymen,  who 
had  come  in  large  numbers  from  England,  were 
put  into  their  places. 

Q.  What  were  O'Neill's  measures  all  this 
while? 

A.  He  set  out  to  London,  attended  by  a  band 
of  galloglasses,  whose  appearance  at  the  court  of 
Elizabeth  excited  great  curiosity. 

Q.    How  did  Elizabeth  receive  him  ? 

A.  With  the  most  flattering  courtesy  and  favor. 
She  promised  to  support  his  claims  to  the  best  of 
her  power. 

Q.    Did  Elizabeth  keep  this  promise  ? 

A.  It  is  probable  that  at  the  time  she  intended 
to  keep  it ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  manifest 
loyalty  of  his  conduct,  she  listened  to  his  enemies 
who  impeached  his  intentions ;  and  they,  encour- 
aged by  an  expression  which  she  used,  proceeded 
to  effect  his  ruin. 

Q.    What  was  that  expression  ? 

A.  "If  O'Neill  rebels,"  said  the  queen,  "it 
will  be  all  the  better  for  my  servants,  for  there  will 
be  estates  enough  for  them  who  lack."  On  which, 
Elizabeth's  Irish  government  determined  to  goad 
O'Neill  into  rebellion. 

Q.    How  did  they  begin  ? 

A.  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  who  was  now  lord 
deputy,  established  a  garrison  of  English  troops  at 
Derry. 

Q.  What  right  had  O'Neill  to  complain  of 
that  ? 

A.  It  was  a  needless  insult  to  him.  The  coun- 
try being  perfectly  tranquil  at  the  time,  no  troops 
were  required  to  check  disturbance ;  and  the 
plantinor  a  o-arrison  in  the  midst  of  O'Neill's  coun- 
try  showed  a  want  of  reliance  on  the  good  faith 

7 


74  CATECHISM   OF    THE 

of  the  promises  he  had  made  to  the  queen's  gov- 
ernment. 

Q.    What  did  O'Neill  resolve  to  do? 

A.  He  resolved  to  get  rid  of  the  English  gar- 
rison. 

Q.   How  did  he  manage  to  do  so? 

A.  He  contrived  to  make  them  begin  hostili- 
ties, and  then  sent  to  the  lord  deputy  a  bitter  com- 
plaint of  their  conduct;  at  the  same  time  propos- 
ing a  conference  at  Dundalk,  to  adjust  all  differ- 
ences. 

Q.    Did  the  conference  take  place? 

A.  No ;  before  it  could  possibly  be  held,  the 
powder  magazine  at  Derry  was  accidentally  blown 
up,  and  the  English  garrison  were  obliged  to  quit 
the  town. 

Q.  Did  O'Neill  then  carry  on  the  war  against 
the  government  ? 

A.  He  did,  but  ineffectually,  as  he  found  him- 
self deserted  by  the  chiefs  on  whose  support  he  had 
relied  with  confidence. 

Q.  Was  their  defection  owing  to  English  in- 
trigue ? 

A.  Yes ;  O'Neill  found,  to  his  cost,  that  the 
English  garrison  at  Derry  had  been  busily  en- 
gaged in  sowing  the  seeds  of  disaffection  to  him, 
from  the  first  moment  of  their  settlement. 

Q.    What  was  his  fate  ? 

A,  He  perished  by  the  treachery  of  Piers,  an 
Enalish  officer,  who  induced  the  Scotch  com- 
mandant  of  a  garrison  stationed  at  Clan-hu-boy, 
to  take  advantage  of  a  preconcerted  quarrel  at 
a  banquet,  to  massacre  O'Neill  and  his  followers. 

Q.  What  reward  did  Piers  receive  for  his 
treachery  ? 

A.    He  received  the  sum  of  one  thousand  marks 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  75 

from  the  government,  on  sending  the  head  of 
O'Neill  to  the  lord  deputy. 

Q.    What  bec;ime  of  O'Neill's  estates  ? 

A.  They  were  divided  amongst  the  managers 
of  the  queen's  Irish  government. 

Q.  Who  was  the  next  great  Irish  lord  on  whose 
destruction  the  government  were  resolved  ? 

A.    The  earl  of  Desmond. 

Q.   How  was  this  managed  ? 

A.  In  a  quarrel  between  Desmond  and  Ormond 
about  the  boundaries  of  their  estates,  Lord  Deputy 
Sidney,  to  whom  the  dispute  had  been  referred, 
decided  at  first  in  favor  of  Desmond ;  but,  on 
receiviiioj  the  queen's  orders  to  reexamine  the 
ease,  Sidney  not  only  decided  this  second  time  in 
favor  of  Ormond,  but  loaded  Desmond  with  all 
the  expenses  his  rival  had  incurred. 

Q.    Did  Desmond  obey  this  new  decision  ? 

A.    No,  for  he  felt  it  was  grossly  unjust. 

Q.    IIow  was  he  then  treated  ? 

A.  He  was  seized  by  the  lord  deputy,  and,  after 
some  delay,  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  where  he  was  kept  in  captivity  for  many 
years. 

Q.    What  disturbances  followed  ? 

A.  Many  serious  ones;  Munster  and  Ulster  be- 
came embroiled  ;  the  former,  with  the  claims  of 
the  earl  of  Clancarthy  to  the  princedom  of  the 
province  ;  the  latter,  with  the  strujgles  of  Tur- 
iough  O'Neiil  to  augment  his  authority. 

Q.  What  efforts  did  the  Geraldines  of  Des- 
mond make  to  avenge  the  imprisonment  of  the 
earl,  their  chief? 

A.  They  are  said  to  have  negotiated  with  their 
old  foes,  the  followers  of  Ormond,  to  effect  a  gen- 
eral insurrection. 


W  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  What  steps  were  taken,  meanwhile,  by  the 
government  ? 

A.  They  ordered  Sir  Peter  Carew  to  lead  his 
army  against  the  Butlers.  He  accordingly  entered 
their  country ;  and  meeting  an  unarmed  concourse 
of  people,  who  gazed  with  curiosity  at  his  forces, 
he  commanded  a  general  massacre,  and  about  four 
hundred  defenceless,  unresisting  people  were  put 
to  death. 

Q.  Was  massacre  a  familiar  instrument  of 
English  government  in  those  days? 

A.  Yes ;  massacres  of  the  Irish  people,  by  the 
agents  of  English  power  in  this  country,  were 
frequent. 

Q.  What  were  Elizabeth's  plans  with  regard 
to  Ulster  1 

A.  She  intended  to  despoil  the  old  proprietors 
of  their  inheritance,  and  to  plant  the  province 
with  Enorlish  colonies. 

Q.  Who  was  the  chief  Englishman  that  visited 
Ireland  to  execute  this  scheme  ? 

.4.    Walter,  earl  of  Essex. 

Q.    What  was  his  character  ? 

A.  Treacherous  and  sanguinary ;  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  commit  any  crime  which  he  thought 
mio-ht  weaken  the  Irish. 

Q.    State  an  instance. 

A.  He  invited  a  chieftain  of  the  race  of  O'Neill 
to  a  banquet,  under  the  semblance  of  friendship, 
and  then  took  the  opportunity  to  murder  his  un- 
suspicious guest. 

Q.  Did  the  scheme  of  planting  Ulster  with 
Enalish  colonies  succeed? 

A.  Not  to  any  considerable  extent  until  the 
next  reign. 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  77 

Q.  What  remarkable  incident  occurred  in 
1578? 

A.  Fitzmaurice,  one  of  the  Geraldines  of  Des- 
mond, who  had  been  treated  with  severity  by  the 
government,  sought  for  foreign  assistance  against 
English  power  in  several  of  the  continental  states. 

Q,    Did  he  succeed  ? 

A.  He  met  no  support  from  foreign  sovereigns ; 
but  he  mustered  a  small  band  of  about  fourscore 
Spaniards,  whom  he  headed  in  an  invasion  of 
Ireland. 

Q.    Did  the  little  armament  land  in  Ireland  ? 

A.    Yes;  upon  the  coast  of  Kerry. 

Q.    What  then  happened  i 

A.  Their  ships  were  immediately  seized  by  an 
Encrlish  vessel  of  war. 

Q.    What  was  the  fate  of  this  enterprise  ? 

A.   It  was  unsuccessful. 

Q.  Was  their  insurrection  sanctioned  by  the 
earl  of  Desmond  ? 

A.  No ;  he  had  been  released  from  the  prison 
into  which  he  had  unjustly  been  thrown,  and 
carefully  avoided  any  step  by  which  he  might 
aorain  incur  the  wrath  of  the  orovernment. 

Q.    Did  this  prudence  avail  to  protect  him  ? 

A.  No;  for  the  government  were  resolved  to 
destroy  him. 

Q.    What  was  his  offence  ? 

A.  The  crreatness  of  his  estates ;  which  the 
friends  of  the  government  were  resolved  to  seize 
and  divide  amoncrst  themselves. 

Q.  In  what  manner  was  the  war  against  Des- 
mond carried  on  by  the  government  ? 

A.  With  the  utmost  ferocity  and  cruelty.  It 
was,  in  truth,  a  succession  of  massacres  commit- 
ted on  the  people  of  that  territory,  diversified  with 

7* 


•^  CATECHISM    OF    THi: 

the  destruction  of  their  houses  and  the  wasting  of 
their  substance. 

Q.    Did  any  succors  arrive  to  Desmond  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  a  Spanish  force  of  700  men  landed  at 
Golden  Fort,  on  the  coast  of  Kerry. 

Q.    What  was  their  fate  ? 

A.  They  were  blockaded  in  the  fort,  and  then 
massacred  in  cold  blood  by  the  orders  of  Sir  Wal- 
ter Raleigh,  Among  the  apologists  of  this  mas- 
sacre, is  the  English  poet,  Spenser. 

Q.    What  was  the  conduct  of  Admiral  Winter  ? 

A.  He  received  into  his  fleet  some  miserable 
fugitives  who  sought  refuge  from  the  persecution. 

Q.  Was  the  humane  admiral  censured  for  this 
conduct  ? 

A.  He  was,  by  the  ferocious  party  who  sup- 
ported the  government,  and  who  thirsted  for  the 
extirpation  of  the  people. 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  Desmond,  sur- 
rounded as  he  now  was  by  enemies  ? 

A.  He  made  a  gallant  battle  to  the  last,  and  in 
one  of  his  sallies  took  the  town  of  Youghal. 

Q.    What  finally  was  his  fate  ? 

A.  His  forces  were  overwhelmed  by  numbers  ; 
and  he  himself  was  murdered  by  a  traitor  named 
Keliy,  who  discovered  the  aged  earl  in  a  hut,  in 
which  he  had  sought  safety  and  concealment. 

Q.    What  was  done  with  his  head  ? 

A.  It  was  sent  by  Ormond  to  the  queen  ;  and 
by  her  orders  exposed  on  a  stake  at  London 
Bridge. 

Q.  Who  was  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  in 
1584? 

A.    Sir  John  Perrot. 

Q.^  What  sort  of  parliament  assembled  in  that 


HISTORY    OV   IRELAi\D.  79 

A.  A  thorouahlv  national  one,  in  which  the 
descendants  of  the  aboriginal  Irish  clans  sat  side 
by  side  with  the  members  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
families. 

Q.  Did  that  parliament  reject  the  measures  of 
the  court  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  they  refused  the  supplies,  and  reject- 
ed several  bills  which  had  been  introduced  by  the 
influence  of  the  English  privy-council. 

Q.    What  made  them  so  refractory  ? 

A.  The  horror  they  felt  at  the  crimes  commit- 
ted by  the  government  in  the  war  against  Des- 
mond, who  had  been  driven  into  insurrection  by 
the  arts  of  his  enemies. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

The  Reign  of  Elizabeth  continued. 

Q.   Who  was  Hugh  O'Neill  ? 

A.    Nephew  of  the  late  earl  of  Tyrone. 

Q.  What  requests  did  he  make  of  the  govern- 
ment ? 

A.  He  petitioned  for  leave  to  take  his  seat  in 
the  house  of  lords,  as  earl  of  Tyrone;  and  he  also 
prayed  that  his  estates  might  be  restored  to  him. 

Q.  What  was  his  claim  upon  the  English  gov- 
ernment ? 

A.    His  uniform  loyalty  to  the  crown. 

Q.    Were  his  petitions  granted  by  Elizabeth  1 

A.    Yes. 

Q.  Did  he  long  continue  in  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  his  territories  ? 

A.   No ;  the  managers  at  Dublin  Castle  were 


60  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

resolved  that  his  extensive  estates  should  be  di- 
vided amongst  English  adventurers  ;  and,  with  a 
view  to  effect  his  ruin,  no  means  were  left  untried 
to  drive  him  to  rebel. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  what  crimes  did  the  new  lord 
lieutenant,  Sir  William  Fitz-William  commit  in 
Ulster  ? 

A.  He  marched  into  Monaghan,  seized  on  the 
chief  of  the  Mac  Mahons,  had  him  tried  and  con- 
victed, on  a  false  charge  of  high  treason,  by  a  jury 
of  common  soldiers,  by  whom  the  hapless  chief 
was  murdered  on  the  spot. 

Q.  What  was  the  signal  for  open  war  against 
O'Neill  ? 

A.  He  had  been  driven,  by  a  variety  of  oppres- 
sions and  petty  hostilities,  to  attack  the  English 
garrison  at  Blackwater  ;  whereupon  a  force  of 
2000  men,  under  the  command  of  Sir  John  Nor- 
ris,  was  sent  to  oppose  him. 

Q.  Was  the  war  against  O'Neill  at  once  suc- 
cessful ? 

A.  Far  from  it.  O'Neill  renewed  his  attack 
upon  the  fort  of  Blackwater,  of  which,  after  a 
hot  contest,  he  obtained  the  possession  —  as  well 
as  of  the  town  of  Armagh,  which  the  English 
garrison  evacuated  without  a  struggle. 

Q.  What  was  the  loss  upon  the  English  side 
at  Blackwater? 

A.  The  English  lost  1500  men,  including  many 
officers.  The  Irish  obtained  thirty-four  standards, 
besides  the  entire  arms,  artillery,  and  ammunition 
of  their  enemies. 

Q.    Was  the  English  army  totally  destroyed  ? 

A.    No  ;  there  was  a  remnant  of  it  saved. 
Q.    Through  whose  agency  ? 

A.   Through  the  valor  of  an  Irish  chief  named 


HISTOKV    OF    IRELAND.  81 

O'Reilly,  who  had  joined  the  royal  cause  against 
O'Neill.  O'Reilly,  at  the  head  of  his  clan,  cov- 
ered the  retreat  of  the  survivors  of  the  English. 

Q.    How  did  O'Neill  then  occupy  himself? 

A.  In  combining  together  as  many  of  his  coun- 
trymen as  he  possibly  could,  for  the  purpose  of 
resistinof  Enorland.  He  also  sent  ambassadors  to 
Spain,  to  solicit  the  aid  of  kmg  Philip. 

Q.    What  measures  did  Elizabeth  take? 

A.  She  sent  an  army  of  20,000  men  to  Ireland, 
under  the  command  of  Robert,  earl  of  Essex. 

Q.    Did  Essex  crush  O'Neill? 

^'1.  No ;  he  marched  to  the  south,  to  quell 
the  insurrection,  which  had  spread  into  Munster. 

Q.    What  was  the  policy  of  the  Irish? 

A.  They  avoided  a  general  engagement,  but 
frequently  defeated  detached  parties  of  the  English 
army. 

Q.  What  was  the  most  memorable  of  those 
triumphs  ? 

A.  A  victory  won  by  the  O'Moore's,  of  Leix, 
over  a  large  body  of  Essex's  cavalry.  From  the 
great  number  of  feathers  lost  by  the  English  troops 
in  that  engagement,  the  Irish  called  the  place  the 
"Pass  of  Plumes." 

Q.  Was  there  any  other  noted  conflict  in 
Leinster  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  the  O'Byrnes  overthrew  another  de- 
tachment of  Essex's  army,  although  the  advantage 
in  numbers  was  on  the  Eno-jish  side. 

o 

Q.  How  did  Elizabeth  receive  the  news  of 
these  reverses  ? 

A.  She  was  enraged  against  Essex,  and  or- 
dered him  to  march  to  the  north, 

Q.    What  was  the  fate  of  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  ? 

A.   While  leading  an  army  northward,  to  the 


82  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

aid  of  Lord  Essex,  Sir  Conyers  fell  into  an  am- 
buscade prepared  for  him  by  the  chief  of  the 
O'Ruarc's,   and   was  slain. 

Q.    How  did  the  campaign  of  Essex  end  ? 

A.  In  an  amicable  conference  which  he  held 
with  O'Neill,  upon  a  rising  ground  within  view  of 
both  their  armies. 

Q.  What  was  the  immediate  result  of  that  con- 
ference? 

A.  A  truce  for  six  weeks;  during  which  Essex 
went  to  England,  and  the  command  of  the  Eng- 
lish army  was  entrusted  to  Sir  George  Carew, 
president  of  Munster,  and  Blount,  Lord  Mountjoy. 

Q.    How  did  these  leaders  conduct  the  war  ! 

A.  With  great  barbarity ;  especially  Carew, 
whose  natural  disposition  was  cruel  and  ferocious. 
He  ordered  his  troops  to  destroy  the  crops  grow- 
ino-  in  the  fields,  so  that  the  wasting  influence  of 
famine  came  in  aid  of  the  English  arms.  He 
burned  the  houses  in  O'Neill's  country,  and  mas- 
sacred their  inhabitants. 

Q.  Did  he  seek  to  draw  the  people  to  alle- 
giance to  the  queen  ? 

A.  No;  and  wherever  an  offer  of  allegiance 
was  made  by  any  of  O'Neill's  partisans,  Carew 
would  only  accept  it  on  the  condition,  that  the 
party  making  the  offer  should  first  prove  his  title 
to  admission  by  murdering  one  of  his  former  con- 
federates ! 

Q.    Did  O'Neill  receive  help  from  Spain  ? 

A.  Two  thousand  Spaniards,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Don  Juan  D'Aquila,  landed  in  the  ex- 
treme south  of  the  kingdom. 

Q.  Were  these  Spanish  auxiliaries  of  the  slight- 
est use  to  O'Neill  ? 

A.   No;  they  were  rather  an  incumbrance.    H' 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  83 

was  obliged  to  march  an  army  to  their  relief  from 
the  opposite  end  of  the  kingdom  ;  a  task  of  dif- 
ficulty and  danger. 

Q.    What  was  the  issue  of  the  strucrgle  ? 

A.  O'Neill,  urged  by  the  foolish  impatience  of 
the  Spanish  commander,  risked  a  premature  attack 
upon  Mountjoy ;  which,  however,  might  have 
been  successful,  if  his  plans  had  not  been  betrayed 
by  spies  to  the  English  general. 

Q.    Was  Mountjoy  victorious? 

A.  Yes  ;  notwithstanding  the  valiant  exertions 
of  O'Neill  to  recover  the  day.  The  Spaniards 
returned  to  their  own  country,  O'Neill  to  Ulster  ; 
and  the  slauo-hter  of  those  who  were  unable  to 
secure  their  safety  by  flight  was  most  horn  Lie  and 
merciless. 

Q.  Whither  did  the  Irish  lords  who  had  been 
in  arms  against  the  queen  direct  their  course  ? 

A.  To  Spain,  where  many  of  their  posterity 
are  to  be  found  at  this  day. 

Q.    Wliat  was  the  ultimate  fate  of  O'Neill  ? 

A.  The  government  still  carried  on  the  war 
against  him  in  the  north.  The  provisions  of  his 
followers  had  been  destroyed  by  the  English 
troops;  whilst  his  enemies  obtained  ample  supplies 
from  England.  Unable  to  endure  the  sight  of  his 
own  friends  perishing  daily  around  him  from  fam- 
ine, he  entered  into  terms  with  the  English,  which 
Elizabeth,  who  was  now  in  her  death-sickness, 
ratified. 

Q.  What  was  the  cost  of  the  Irish  war  to 
Elizabeth  ? 

A.  Three  millions  sterling,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  flower  of  her  army.  And  after  all,  the  sub- 
jugation of  Ireland  was  partial  and  imperfect. 

Q.   In  what  respect  does  the  mastery  acquired 


84  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

by  England  over  Ireland  differ  from  the  conquest 
of  EngUnd  itself  by  the  Normans? 

A.  The  conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans 
was  rapid  and  complete;  whereas  the  subjugation 
of  Ireland  has  never  been  thoroughly  accomplished 
even  to  the  present  day. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Elizabeth  die? 

A.   In  the  year  1603. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

The  Reign  of  James  the  First 

Q.  Who  succeeded  to  the  throne  on  the  death 
of  Elizabeth? 

A.    James,  kinor  of  Scotland. 

Q.  How  did  James  treat  the  great  northern 
chiefs,  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  ? 

A.  He  confirmed  the  former  in  his  title  of 
earl  of  Tyrone;  and  revived,  in  favor  of  O'Don- 
nell, the  earldom  of  Tyrconnell. 

Q.  What  salutary  measures  were  adopted  in 
Ireland  by  James  ? 

A.  He  divided  the  whole  kingdom  into  shire- 
ground,  and  settled  the  circuits  of  the  judges  on  a 
permanent  basis. 

Q.  What  evil  measures  did  this  king  inflict 
upon  Ireland? 

A.  He  reenacted  the  severe  penal  laws  against 
the  Catholics;  and  he  soon  turned  his  mind  to 
the  project  of  plundering  all  the  proprietors  of 
land  in  Ulster  of  their  estates,  in  order  to  sup- 
plant them  with  English  and  Scottish  adventurers. 


HISTORY   OF  IRELAND.  Q& 

Q.    How  did  the  government  commence  their 

operations  ? 

A.  An  anonymous  letter  was  dropped  in  the 
privy-council  chamber  in  Dubhn  Castle,  impu- 
ting- high  treason  to  the  two  great  Ulster  lords, 
O'Neilf  and  O'Donnell. 

Q.    How  did  these  two  nobles  act  ? 

A.    They  fled  to  the  continent. 

Q.    Why? 

A.  Because  they  felt  certain  that  the  govern- 
ment had  resolved  on  their  destruction.  They 
hid  not  now  sufficient  forces  to  give  battle  to 
J  irnes ;  and  they  knew  that  if  they  stood  their 
trial,  a  jury  could  be  easily  packed  to  convict 
them. 

Q.  What  extent  of  land  did  James  thus  con- 
fiscate in  Ulster  ? 

A.  Three  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand 
acres. 

Q.    Whit  was  James's  next  step? 

A.  He  summoned  an  Irish  parliament,  in  order 
to  obtain  the  sanction  of  law  to  his  enormous 
wickedness. 

Q.  13id  the  parliament  ratify  the  criminal  acts 
of  the  kiucr  ? 

A.  A  fairly  chosen  parliament  would  not  have 
done  so;  but  James  packed  the  parliament  in 
order  to  secure  a  majority  in  his  own  favor. 

Q.    How  did  he  manage? 

A.  He  created  forty  new  boroughs  in  one  day, 
and  the  members  returned  for  those  boroughs 
were  tutored  to  vote  for  the  crown.  [It  is  worthy 
of  remark,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  creation 
of  those  fortv  close  borouorhs,  the  Union  could 
never  have  been  carried  in  the  Irish  house  of 
commons.] 

8 


inor 


86  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  What  next  scheme  of  plunder  was  projected 
bv  the  kincr? 

A.  He  issued  what  was  called  a  "  commission 
for  the  discovery  of  defective  titles." 

Q.    What  was  the  object  of  this  commission? 

A,  To  detect  pretended  flaws  in  the  titles  of 
the  Irish  landed  proprietors  to  their  estates,  in 
order  that  the  crown  might  either  seize  the  prop- 
erty, or  else  compel  the  possessors  to  pay  heavy 
•fines  for  new  titios. 

Q.  Who  was  placed  at  the  head  of  this  com- 
mission ? 

A.    Sir  William  Parsons. 

Q.    What   was    Parsons's   mode    of   proceed- 
? 

A.  Torture  and  subornation  of  perjury.  In 
the  celebrated  cise  of  the  Byrnes  of  "  the  liane- 
laghs,"  he  suborned  witnesses  to  swear  an  accu- 
sation of  high  treison  against  those  gentlemen. 

Q.   Did  the  witnesses  swear  willingly? 

A.  No:  Sir  William  forced  them  to  swear  up 
to  the  mark  by  the  infliction  of  the  most  horrible 
tortures.  He  had  one  witness,  named  Archer, 
placed  on  a  gridiron  over  a  charcoal  fire,  burned 
in  several  parts  of  his  body  with  hot  irons,  and 
barb;irously  flogged,  in  order  to  compel  the 
wretched  man  to  swear  against  the  two  Byrnes, 
whom  the  court  had  resolved  to  despoil  of  their 
estates. 

Q.    Did  Archer  yield  ? 

A.  Yes ;  when  he  was  tortured  beyond  his 
endurance,  he  promised  to  swear  all  thnt  Parsons 
wished  ;  and  by  this  diabolical  proceeding,  the 
proprietors  were  robbed  of  their  inheritance. 

Q.    Did  James  intend  to  confiscate  Connaught? 


HISTORY    OF    IKELAiND.  87 

A.    Yes ;  but  ere  he  could  effect  his  purpose, 
he  was  seized  with  an  ague,  and  died. 
Q.    In  what  year  ? 
A.    In  1625. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

The  Reign  of  Charles  the  First. 

Q.  What  was  king  Charles's  conduct  towards 
his  Irish  subjects  ? 

A.  He  followed  in  his  father's  footsteps :  — 
bigotted  hostility  to  the  Catholics,  treachery  in 
making  promises  which  he  did  not  intend  to 
perform,  and  steady  perseverance  in  the  plunder 
of  estates  ;  these  were  the  leading  features  of  his 
policy  in  Ireland. 

Q.  Whit  was  the  declaration  of  the  Irish 
Protestant  bishops  in  1626? 

A.  They  declared  that  the  toleration  of  "Po- 
pery "  (by  which  they  meant  the  Catholic  religion) 
**  was  a  grievous  sin ;  "  and  that  all  persons  con- 
curring in  such  toleration  became  thereby  involved 
in  the  guilt  of"  the  Catholic  apostacy." 

Q.  Whilst  the  bishops  thus  urged  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  people,  how  was  the  court  occupied  ? 

A.    In  the  wholesale  plunder  of  estates.     The 

iudofes  were  ranged  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  and 

there    were  found    complaisant  jurors  who  were 

given  an   interest  in  finding  verdicts  against  the 

proprietors. 

Q.  What  step  did  the  Catholic  nobility  and 
gentry  of  Ireland  take  in  1628? 

A.   They  held  a  meeting  in  Dublin,  at  which 


88  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

many  Protestants  of  rank  and  influence  also 
attended. 

Q.  What  measure  was  agreed  on  at  that  meet- 
ing '? 

A.  They  framed  a  petition  to  the  king,  in 
which  his  majesty  was  requested  to  concede  to 
his  Irish  subjects  certain  privileges  termed  the 
■"  araces," 

Q.    What  were  these  "  graces  "  ? 

A.  Security  of  property ;  religious  liberty ; 
free  trade ;  mitigation  of  the  severities  practised 
by  the  Established  clergy;  abolition  of  the  private 
prisons  kept  by  that  clergy,  for  the  incarceration 
of  persons  condemned  in  the  church  courts;  a 
free  pardon  for  all  past  political  offences. 

Q.  What  offer  did  the  Irish  make  the  king,  on 
the  condition  of  his  grantincj  the  "  graces  "  ? 

A.  They  offered  him  the  sum  —  an  enormous 
one  for  those  days  —  of  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds. 

Q.    Did  Charles  take  the  money  1 

A.    Yes,  he  did. 

Q.    But  did  he  grant  the  *'  graces  "  1 

A.    He  did  vat. 

Q.    Whose  fault  was  that? 

A.  It  was  partly  the  fault  of  his  own  weakness 
and  bigotry.  Some  of  his  advisers  exclaimed  that 
the  concession  of  the  "  graces"  would  exalt 
Popery  on  the  ruins  of  Protestantism.  The  king 
took  fright,  and  sheltered  himself,  for  his  shameful 
breach  of  promise,  by  allowing  the  blame  to  fall 
on  Lord  Strafford,  who  soon  after  became  lord 
lieutenant  of  Ireland. 

Q.    What  was  Strafford's  part  in  the  affair  1 

A.    He  strongly  urged   Charles  to  break  faith 


HISTORY   OF    IRELAND.  89 

with  the  Irish,  and  readily  put  himself  forward  to 
bear  all  the  odium  of  the  royal  treachery. 

Q.    Of  what  other  crimes  was  Strafford  guilty  ? 

A.  He  prepared  to  rob  the  Conn  aught  proprie- 
tors of  their  estates,  bv  means  of  the  "  Commis- 
sion  to  Inquire  into  Defective  Titles." 

Q.    How  did  that  commission  work  ? 

A.  The  proprietors  were  put  upon  their  trial, 
to  show  title.  The  judges  were  bribed  by  four 
shillings  in  the  pound,  on  the  first  year's  rent  of 
the  estates,  to  be  paid  them  in  the  event  of  a 
verdict  being  found  for  the  king.  The  jurors  were 
also  bribed  ;  and  the  people  were  overawed,  during 
the  trials,  by  the  presence  of  a  strong  military 
force. 

Q.  Did  these  precautions  always  secure  ver- 
dicts for  the  crown  ? 

A.  They  usually  did.  There  were,  however, 
one  or  two  instances  in  which  the  honesty  of  the 
jurors  stood  out  against  both  terror  and  cor- 
ruption. 

Q.  How  were  such  conscientious  jurors  treated 
by  the  irovernment  ? 

.4.  They  were  fined  ;  pilloried  ;  their  ears  cut 
off;  their  ton Tues  bored  through;  and  their  fore- 
heads  marked  with  hot  irons. 

Q.    On  what  authority  do  you  state  these  facts? 

A.  On  that  of  the  Journals  of  the  Irish  House 
of  Commons,  vol.  i.  p.  307. 

Q.  Were  not  the  proprietors  afforded  the  alter- 
native of  redeeminop  their  estates  en  payment  of  a 
fine  to  the  crown  for  new  titles  ? 

A.    Yes;     Strafford    in    this    manner    extorted 

.£17,000   from   the   O'Byrnes,  and  =£70,000  from 

the  London  companies,  to  whom  James  the  First 

had  crranted  lands  in  Ulster. 

8* 


90  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  Did  Strafford  crush  the  woollen  trade  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes ;  he  injured  it  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power,  from  the  fear  that  it  would  successfully 
rival  the  English  woollen  manufacture. 

Q.  In  the  midst  of  all  his  crimes,  do  we  find 
one  solitary  good  conferred  by  Strafford  upon 
Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes ;  he  established  and  encouraged  the 
manufacture  of  linen,  which  for  a  long  time  after 
flourished,  and  became  a  fruitful  source  of  wealth 
to  this  country. 

Q.  What  circumstances  induced  Charles  to 
withdraw  Strafford  from  Ireland  ? 

A.  The  troubles  in  Scotland,  which  violently 
raged,  required  all  the  aid  and  counsel  of  the 
ablest  ministers  at  the  English  court. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 
The  Civil  War  of  l6iL 

Q.  What  was  the  cause  of  the  Irish  civil  war 
of  1641 ? 

A.  The  Irish  were  impelled  to  take  up  arms 
by  the  intolerable  oppressions  of  which,  for  many 
years,  they  had  been  the  victims  ;  and  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  settled  purpose  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  exterminate  their  race. 

Q.  Into  how  many  sections  were  the  party  who 
might  be  called  "  Irish"  divided  ? 

A.  Into  three.  There  were  the  ancient  Irish 
clans;  the  Catholics  of  the  English  Pale;  and  the 
royalists. 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  91 

Q.    What  party  was  opposed  to  those  three? 

A.    The  Puritans,  or  parliamentarian  party. 

Q.    Where  did  the  civil  war  begin  ? 

A.    In  Ulster. 

Q.    Who  headed  the  outbreak  in  that  province  ? 

A.    Sir  Phelim  O'Neill. 

Q.    What  was  the  object  of  the  insurgents  ? 

A.  To  recover  the  estates  of  that  province  for 
their  ancient  proprietors,  and  to  secure  freedom 
from  En /lish  oppression  for  all  the  inhabitants  of 
this  kingdom. 

Q.  Was  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  qualified  to  lead  so 
great  an  uiidertakinor  ? 

^4.  No ;  he  was  a  person  of  small  abilities  and 
ferocious  temper. 

Q.  What  was  the  immediate  outrage  that  drove 
the  men  of  Ulster  to  revolt  ? 

A.  A  massacre  committed  on  the  inhabitants 
of  Island  Magee  by  an  armed  party  who  issued 
from  the  English  garrison  of  Carrickfergus. 

Q.  Who  were  at  that  time  the  lords  justices  of 
Ireland? 

A.    Sir  William  Parsons  (the  same  person  who 
had  contrived  the  horrid  crime  committed  on  the 
Byrnes)  and  Sir  John  Borlase. 
'  Q.    How  did  they  act  ? 

A.  They  published  a  proclamation,  charging 
the  great  body  of  the  Irish  Catholics  with  being 
engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  state. 

Q.  Has  it  not  often  been  asserted  that  there 
was  a  great  massacre  of  the  Protestants  committed 
by  the  Irish  Catholics  in  1641? 

A.    Yes,  that  assertion  has  been  made. 

Q.    What  is  the  character  of  that  assertion  ? 

A.  It  is  a  thorough  and  most  impudent  false- 
hood. 


92  CATECHISM   OF  THE 

Q.  What !  was  there  no  general  massacre 
committed  bv  the  Irish  ? 

A.    None  whatever. 

Q.  What  is  your  reason  for  denying  that  there 
was  a  massacre  ? 

A.  The  total  absence  of  all  proof  that  any 
massacre  took  place,  and  the  irreconcilable  state- 
ments of  those  who  assert  that  a  massacre  did 
take  place. 

Q.  Was  there,  then,  no  blood  shed  by  the 
Irish  ? 

A.  Yes,  there  was  blood  shed ;  but  it  was  in 
fair  and  open   war;  not  by  massacre. 

Q.  How  do  you  show  the  total  absence  of  suf- 
ficient proof  that  a  massacre  took  place  I 

A.  Because  no  mention  whatsoever  is  made  of 
any  massacre  at  all  in  the  government  documents 
of  the  period;  in  which,  if  it  had  really  happened, 
it  would  have  infallibly  been  recorded. 

Q.    What  documents  do  you  speak  of? 

A.  The  proclamations  and  despatches  of  the 
lords  justices  at  Dublin  Castle. 

Q.  What  is  the  date  of  the  falsely  alleged 
massacre  ? 

A.   The  23d  of  October,  1(54 1. 

Q.  What  fire  the  dates  of  the  despatches  of  the 
lords  justices  1 

A.  The  25th  of  October  ;  the  25th  of  Novem- 
ber ;  the  27th  of  November,  and  the  23d  of  De- 
cember, in  the  same  year.  Now,  the  despatches 
bearino-  these  four  dates  accuse  the  Irish  Cath- 
dies  of  various  acts  of  turbulence  and  plunder; 
they  specify  the  murder  of  ten  of  the  garrison  of 
Lord  Moore's  house  at  Mellifont  by  a  party  of 
**  rebels; "  but  they  do  not  say  one  single  word  of 
any  general  massacre  of  the  Protestants. 


HISTORY    OV    IRELAND.  93 

Q.  What  do  you  infer  from  this  total  silence  on 
the  subject  ? 

A.  That  no  massacre  can  have  possibly  oc- 
curred ;  since  it  is  perfectly  incredible  that,  if 
there  had  been  any  massacre,  it  should  not  have 
been  mentioned  in  the  despatches  drav\-n  up  by 
the  bitter  enemies  of  the  Irish  people,  who  were 
always  eager  for  an  opportunity  of  making 
charores  aijainst  them. 

Q.  What  discrepancies  strike  you  in  the  ac- 
counts of  this  pretended  massacre  ? 

A.  The  irreconcilable  details,  aiven  bv  differ- 
ent  authors,  of  the  numbers  said  to  have  been 
slain  in  cold  blood. 

Q.  How  many  does  Milton  say  were  mas- 
sacred? 

A.    Six  hundred  thousand.* 

Q.  How  many  do  Barton  and  Temple  assert 
were  massacred  ? 

A.    Three  hundred  thousand. 

Q.  How  many  do  Frankland,  May,  and  Baker 
say? 

A.    Two  hundred  thousand. 

Q.    How  many  does  Rapin  say  ? 

A.    One  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand. 


*  Milton's  words,  as  quoted  by  Harris  in  his  "  Historical 
Account  of  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  James  L  and  Charles 
L,"  (vol.  IT.  p  391,)  London,  1814,  are  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  rebellion  and  horrid  massacre  of  English  Protestants  in 
Ireland,  to  the  amount  of  loi.OOO,  in  the  province  of  Ulster 
only,  by  their  own  computation ;  which,  added  to  the  other 
^ree,  snakes  up  the  total  sum  of  that  slaughter,  in  nil  likelihood, 
four  times  a?  great.'' 

In  other  words,  about  616.000!  —  Milton  probably  became 
ashamed  of  this  colossal  falsehood  ;  for  in  subsequent  editions 
of  his  "  Iconoclastes,"  the  part  of  the  sentence  printed  in 
italics  is  omitted.  Harris  professes  to  quote  from  the  2nd 
edition,  p.  49. 


94  CATECHIS:.!    OF    THE 

Q.    How  many  does  Warwick  say  ? 

A.    One  hundred  thousand. 

Q.    How  many  does  Lord  Clarendon  say  ? 

A.    Forty  or  fifty  thousand. 

Q.    How  many  does  David  Hume  say  ? 

ji.    Forty  thousand. 

Q.  How  many  does  the  Rev.  Dr.  Warner  * 
say  ? 

A.    Four  thousand  and  twentv-eight. 

Q.  What  observation  does  Dr.  Warner  make 
on  the  wholesale  charges  flung  at  the  Irish  people  ? 

A.  He  says  "It  is  easy  enough  to  demonstrate 
the  utter  falsehood  of  every  Protestant  historian 
of  the  rebellion." 

Q.  What  was  the  motive  which  induced  the 
anti-Irish  party  to  circulate  those  stupendous 
calumnies  against  the  character  of  the  country  ? 

A.  Because  they  had  got  possession  of  the 
estates  of  the  native  gentry;  and  it  was  in  the 
highest  degree  their  interest  to  deprive  the  old 
proprietors  of  all  chance  of  sympathy  or  aid,  by 
blackening,  to  the  utmost,  their  character  and  that 
of  their  nation. 

Q.  Wheu  Milton,  Burton,  and  Temple,  respect- 
ively, alleged  the  massacre  of  their  "  six  hundred 
thousand"  and  their  "three  hundred  thousand" 
Protestants  by  the  Irish  Catholics,  pray  what  was 
the  total  number  of  Protestants  in  the  kingdom? 

A.  According  to  Sir  William  Petty,  the  best 
statist  of  his  day,  the  entire  number  of  Irish  Prot- 
estants then  only  amounted  to  about  2*20,000. 

Q.  You  have  already  stated  that  the  Irish  rose 
to  defend  themselves  aorainst  the  effort  to  exter- 


*  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


HIiSTORY    OF    IRELAND.  95 

minate  them.  W?iat  evidence  have  you  that  the 
government  intended  their  extermination  ? 

A.  The  evidence  of  several  Protestant  his- 
torians. 

Q.    What  does  Dr.  Leland  say  ? 

A.  He  says  that  "  the  favorite  object  of  the 
Irish  governors  and  the  English  parliament  '  was 
the  utter  extermination  of  all  the  Catholic  inhabit- 
ants of  Ireland.'  "  * 

Q.    What  does  Carte  say  ? 

A.  That  "  the  lords  justices  had  set  their 
hearts  on  the  ertirpation,  not  only  of  the  '  mere 
Irish,'  but  likewise  of  all  of  the  old  Enorlish  fami- 
lies  that  were  Roman  Catholics."  t 

Q.    What  does  Lord  Clarendon  say? 

A.  That  the  parliament  party  "  had  sworn  to 
extirpatr  "  the  whole  Irish  nation.  | 

Q.    What  does  the  Rev.  Dr.  Warner  say? 

A.  That  it  is  evident  that  the  lords  justices 
**  hoped  for  an  extirpation,  not  of  the  mere  Irish 
only,  but  of  all  the  old  English  families  that  were 
Roman  Catholics."  § 

Q.  In  the  course  of  the  civil  war,  did  the  gov- 
ern Mient  try  to  restrain  the  bloodthirsty  excesses 
of  their  followers? 

A.  No  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  urged  them  to 
the  work  of  massacre. 

Q.  Can  you  state  the  words  of  their  mandate 
for  massacre  ? 

A.  Yes;  in  February,  1642,  they  issued  an 
instruction  to  Lord  Orinond,   "  that  his  lordship 


*  Leland's  History  of  Ireland  ;  Book  V.  chap.  4. 
t  Carte's  Life  of  the  duke  of  Ormonde,  vol.  L  p.  330. 
+  Chrendon,  vol.  L  p.  215. 

^  Warner's  History  of  the  Rebellion  and  Civil  War  in  Ire- 
land, p.  176. 


96  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

do  endeavor  with  his  majesty's  forces  to  wound, 
kill,  slay,  and  destroy,  by  aW  the  ways  and  means 
he  may,  all  the  said  rebels,  their  adherents  and 
relievers ;  and  burn,  waste,  spoil,  consume,  de- 
stroy, and  demolish,  all  the  places,  towns,  and 
houses,  where  the  said  rebels  are,  or  have  been, 
relieved  or  harbored,  and  all  the  hay  and  corn 
there ;  and  kill  and  destroy  all  the  men  there  in- 
habiting capable  to  hear  arms.''' 

Q.  Who  were  the  lords  justices  who  issued  this 
diabolical  instruction  ? 

A.  Their  names  were  Dillon,  Rotheram,  Lof- 
tus,  Willoughby,  Temple,  and  Meredith. 

Q.    Were  their  orders  obeyed  1 

A.  Yes;  to  the  very  letter,  by  their  sanguinary 
subordinates. 

Q.  Where  were  the  head-quarters  of  the  con- 
federated Irish  ? 

A.    At  Kilkenny. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  leaders  also  draw  up  a  mani- 
festo to  regulate  the  conduct  of  their  army  ? 

A.    They  did. 

Q.    What  was  the  character  of  that  manifesto  ? 

A.  Humane  and  merciful.  The  Irish  leaders 
enjoined  all  their  military  commanders  to  prohibit, 
on  pain  of  severe  punishment,  any  wanton  aggres- 
sion on  the  persons  or  goods  of  the  public  ;  which 
injunction  was  further  enforced  by  the  penalty 
of  excommunication,  fulminated  by  the  Catholic 
prelates  against  all  such  Catholics  as  should 
disobey  it. 

Q.  Who  were  the  principal  leaders  of  the  con- 
federated Irish  ? 

A.  Roger  Moore,  Connor  Macguire,  O'Farrell, 
Clanricarde,    Owen   Roe  O'Neill,   Preston,   Red 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  97 

Hugh  O'Donnell,  Audley,  Mac  Mahon,  and  Sir 
Phelim  O'NeiJl. 

Q.  Was  their  purpose  to  throw  off  their  alle- 
giance to  the  king  ? 

A.  By  no  means.  At  a  conference  between 
the  Irish  leaders  of  English  and  Irish  descent, 
held,  prior  to  the  taking  up  of  arms,  at  the  hill  of 
Crofty,  the  lords  of  the  Pale  asked  Roger  Moore 
to  state  distinctly  his  purposes  ;  to  which  question 
Moore  replied,  "  To  maintain  the  royal  preroga- 
tive, and  make  the  subjects  of  Ireland  as  free  as 
those  of  England." 

Q.  How  did  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  endeavor  to 
raise  troops? 

A.  By  alleging  that  he  had  taken  up  arms  for 
the  king;  and  exhibiting  a  commission,  purporting 
to  be  from  his  majesty,  to  which  he  had  forged  the 
royal  seal  and  signature. 

Q.  What  was  the  personal  character  of  Sir 
Phelim? 

A.  It  contrasted  strongly  with  the  dispositions 
of  the  other  Irish  leaders.  He  was  a  ferocious, 
headstrong  man;  but  he  in  some  measure  re- 
deemed  his  crimes  by  the  noble  candor  which  he 
displayed  when  on  the  point  of  being  executed. 

Q. '  What  was  that  ? 

A.  He  miaht  have  saved  his  life,  if  he  had  then 
consented  to  confirm  his  own  false  statement,  that 
Charles  had  authorized  him  to  take  up  arms  ;  but 
he  preferred  doing  justice  to  the  unhappy  king, 
by  honestly  confessing  his  own  forgery  of  the 
commission. 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  the  earl  of  Or- 
mond  durincr  the  civil  war? 

A.  Crafty  and  treacherous.  We  find  him  at 
9 


98  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

first  making  offers  to  the  lords  justices  to  march 
against  the  insurgents. 

Q.    Were  his  offers  accepted  ? 

A.  Not  at  first.  The  lords  justices  sent  forth 
Sir  Charles  Coote,  a  very  monster  of  ferocity,  to 
ravage  the  country  and  massacre  the  inhabitants. 

Q.    Where  do  we  next  find  Ormond  ? 

A.  Offering  the  Irish  government  to  carry  on 
the  war  against  the  confederates,  on  condition  of 
being  supplied  with  ten  thousand  pounds  for  that 
purpose. 

Q.    Did  the  government  accede  to  this  offer  ? 

A.    They  did  not. 

Q.  Did  Ormond  then  enter  into  treaty  with  the 
confederates  ? 

A.  Yes ;  he  was  authorized  by  Charles  to  do 
so. 

Q.    What  was  the  result  of  his  negotiation  ? 

A.  A  cessation  of  hostilities  for  twelve  months. 
The  confederates,  who  had  taken  up  arms  to  de- 
fend their  lives,  properties,  and  liberties,  looked 
upon  this  truce  as  a  boon,  and  undertook  to  supply 
the  king  with  thirty  thousand  pounds  in  considera- 
tion of  it. 

Q.  What  did  Ormond  achieve  by  this  nego- 
tiation ? 

A.  Firstly,  he  gained  supplies  for  the  king  from 
the  confederates ;  secondly,  he  kept  the  confed- 
erates in  a  sort  of  hostile  attitude ;  and  thirdly, 
he  tied  them  up  for  a  whole  year  from  making  any 
use  of  their  arms. 

Q.  How  did  the  Puritan,  or  parliamentarian 
party,  act  on  the  occasion  of  this  truce  ? 

A.  They  loudly  exclaimed  against  the  sin,  as 
they  called  it,  of  holding  any  terms  whatsoever 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  99 

with  the  murderous  Papists,  and  they  ordered  their 
generals  to  break  the  truce. 

Q.  What  was  the  next  act  of  the  confed- 
erates I 

A.  They  implored  Ormond  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  their  armv,  and  to  lead  them  aorainst 
Monroe,  the  parliamentarian  general  in  Ulster. 

Q.    Did  Ormond  comply  ? 

xi.  No;  and  the  command  was  thereupon  given 
to  Lord  Castlehaven. 

Q.    What  were  the  next  steps  of  both  parties  ? 

A.  The  Cath3lic  confederates,  and  the  Ultra- 
Protestant  party,  each  sent  a  deputation  to  England, 
to  stale  their  proposals  to  the  king. 

Q.    What  did  the  Catholic  party  demand? 

.1.  The  total  repeal  of  ;ill  penal  laws  against 
their  religion  ;  the  perfect  freedom  of  the  Irish 
parliament;  the  exclusion  from  that  parliament 
of  all  persons  who  had  neither  property  nor  resi- 
dence in  Ireland  :  an  act,  reversing  all  attainders 
of  those  who  had  borne  arms  in  the  war  ;  an  act 
to  incapacitate  the  viceroy  from  acquiring  lands  in 
Ireland  durinsf  his  tenure  of  office ;  a  riaid  in- 
quiry  into  all  allegations  of  inhuman  conduct  and 
breaches  of  quarter  upon  either  side  during  the 
troubles,  and  the  due  punishment  of  all  conviqted 
offenders. 

Q.    What  did  the  Protestant  party  demand? 

A.  That  all  the  penal  laws  against  the  Cath- 
olics should  be  enforced  with  the  utmost  ricror  ; 
that  all  Catholics  should  be  disarmed  ;  that  they 
should  be  obliged  to  make  good  all  injuries  sus- 
tained in  the  war  by  the  Protestants ;  that  all 
Catholics,  guilty  of  offences,  should  be  punished  ; 
and  that  all  the  estates  of  which  Sir  William 
Parsons   had    achieved    the    forfeiture  should   be 


100  CATECHISM    OF   T^E 

vested  in  the  crown,  with  the  view  to  secure  the 
British  settlers  in  the  possession  of  them. 

Q.  What  curious  inconsistency  is  observable 
in  the  Protestant  proposal? 

A.  That  the  Catholics  should  be  compelled  to 
make  good  all  injuries  sustained  by  the  Protest- 
ants ;  and  at  the  same  time  be  totally  deprived  of 
the  means  of  so  doing,  by  the  confirmation  of  the 
forfeiture  of  their  estates. 

Q.  How  did  Charles  treat  the  Catholic  depu- 
tation 1 

A.  He  gave  them  civil  words,  and  then  com- 
mitted the  decision  of  their  claims  to  Ormond. 

Q.    What  was  Ormond's  policy? 

.4,  Procrastination  ;  and  he  postponed  all  final 
settlement  until  the  English  Puritan  party  had 
acquired  such  power,  as  to  render  the  king's  ruin 
certain. 

Q.    Why  did  Ormond  delay  the  settlement  ? 

A.  Because  he  was  secretly  resolved  not  to 
grant  the  demands  of  the  Catholics;  and  he  tried 
to  obtain  their  assistance  for  Charles,  without 
committing  himself  by  promise  or  treaty. 

Q.  What  was  the  kind's  conduct  throuorhout 
the  entire  neo-otiation  ? 

A.  It  was  marked  by  duplicity  and  faithless- 
ness ;  the  effort  to  extort  as  much  from  the  Irish, 
and  to  grant  them  as  little  as  possible;  the  accept- 
ance of  money  and  men  from  our  nation,  on  the 
faith  of  solemn  promises  which  Charles  neither 
kept,  nor,  i:i  all  probability,  intended  to  keep. 

Q.  Through  whom  were  those  promises  con- 
veyed to  the  Irish  confederates  ? 

A.  Through  Herbert,  earl  of  Glamorgan,  the 
son  of  the  marquis  of  Worcester. 


HISTORY   OF    IRELAND.  10 1 

Q.  Did  Ormoiid  at  last  sign  the  treaty  with  the 
confederates  ? 

A.    He  did;  on  the  28th  of  May,  1646. 

Q.    What  at  last  induced  him  to  do  so? 

A.  The  pressing  necessity  of  the  king's  affairs, 
which  were  every  day  becoming  more  desperate 
in  consequence  of  the  delay. 

Q.  What  was  the  first  battle  fought  in  Ireland 
after  that  treaty? 

A.  The  battle  of  Benburb  :  in  which  Owen 
Roe  O'Neill,  commanding  the  Catholic  forces  on 
the  part  of  the  king,  defeated  the  more  numerous 
army  of  the  parliamentarians,  commanded  by 
Monroe. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  what  were  the  king's  fortunes 
in  England  ? 

A.  Most  disastrous.  He  met  with  a  succession 
of  defeats,  and  at  last  surrendered  himself  into  the 
hands  of  the  Scotch  Puritans,  who  sold  him  to 
the  English  parliament  for  the  sum  of  <i'400,000. 

Q.    What  was  then  Ormond's  policy? 

A.  As  soon  as  he  saw  the  king's  affairs  were 
hopeless,  he  began  to  make  terms  with  the  par- 
liamentarians ;  and  he  even  pretended  that  Charles 
had  instructed  him  to  prefer  the  alliance  of  that 
party  to  the  friendship  of  the  Irish. 

Q.  When  Ormond  deserted  the  confederates 
to  negotiate  with  the  parliamentarians,  what  con- 
ditions did  he  make  for  himself  with  the  latter  \ 

A.  He  bargained  for  t£3000  a  year  for  his 
wife  ;  c£  14,000  to  make  good  his  own  personal 
losses  in  the  war ;  and  liberty  to  reside  in  Eng- 
land on  condition  of  not  disturbing  the  new  order 
of  thinops. 

Q.    Was  this  last  stipulation  carried  into  effect? 

A.    No;  on    arriving   in   England    he  was  ap- 
9* 


102  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

prised  that  the  parliament  had  issued  orders  to 
arrest  him  ;   and  he  accordingly  escaped  to  France. 

Q.  What  were  the  fortunes  of  the  confederate 
Catholics? 

A.  Unprosperous.  They  were  divided  by  the 
opposite  counsels  of  Rinuncini,  the  Pope's  nuncio, 
and  his  party  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  more  mod- 
erate party  on  the  other. 

Q.  Did  Ormond  return  to  Ireland  from 
France  ? 

A.    He  did,  in  September,  1648. 

Q.    Where  was  the  king  at  that  time? 

A.  A  close  prisoner  at  Carisbrook  Castle  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  the  hands  of  the  parliamen- 
tarians. 

Q.  How  had  Ormond  employed  his  time  whilst 
in  France  ? 

A.  In  endeavoring  to  obtain  from  the  French 
court  supplies  to  carry  on  the  war  for  the  king  in 
Ireland. 

Q.    Did  he  succeed  ? 

A.  So  badly,  that  the  slender  sum  that  court 
adviinced  him  little  more  than  defrayed  the  ex- 
penses of  his  voyage.  On  arriving  at  Cork,  he 
had  no  more  than  thirty  French  louisd'or  for  his 
military  chest. 

Q.  Did  he  renew  his  treaty  with  the  confed- 
erates 1 

A.  Yes ;  on  the  I6th  of  January,  1649,  he 
ratified  that  treaty,  granting  every  concession 
demanded  by  the  Catholics. 

Q.  Had  he  the  king's  authority  for  this  ratifi- 
cation ? 

A.  Yes;  so  long  before  as  the  10th  of  October, 
in  the  previous  year,  Charles  had  written  Ormond 
a  letter  from  his  prison,  in  which  he  says :   "Be 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  103 

not  startled  at  my  great  concessions  concerning 
Ireland, ybr  they  will  come  to  nothing J^ 

Q.  On  what  day  was  the  king  beheaded  by 
the  parliamentarians? 

A.    On  the  30th  of  January,  1649. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

The  Commonwealth. 

Q.  Where  was  Ormond  when  the  news  of  the 
kincr's  death  reached  him  1 

A.    At  Youghall,  in  the  county  Cork. 

Q.  What  was  his  first  act  on  learning  the 
event  ? 

A.  To  proclaim  the  prince  of  Wales  king,  by 
the  title  of  Charles  the  Second. 

Q.    Where  was  the  young  king  at  that  time  1 

A-    At  the  Hague,  in  Holland. 

Q.  Did  he  begin  by  confirming  the  peace 
which  Ormond  had  sigrned  with  the  confederate 
Catholics  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  he  wrote  from  the  Hague  "that  he 
had  received,  and  was  extremely  well  satisfied 
with,  the  articles  of  peace  with  the  Irish  confed- 
erates, and  would  confirm  wholly  and  entirely  all 
that  was  contained  in  them."  * 

Q.    Did  he  keep  that  promise  to  the  Irish  1 

A.  No;  for  in  order  to  secure  the  crown  of 
Scotland  for  himself,  he  found  it  was  necessary  to 
break  faith  with  the  Catholics,  whom  the  Scottish 
Puritans  detested. 

»  Cart.  Orig.  Let.  vol.  11.  pp.  363,  367. 


104  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  What,  then,  was  Charles's  next  declara- 
tion? 

A.  Having  landed  in  Scotland  in  June,  1650, 
he  publicly  declared  "  that  he  did  detest  and 
abhor  Popery,  superstition,  and  idolatry,  together 
with  prelacy;  resolving  not  to  tolerate,  much  It^ss 
to  allow  those  in  any  part  of  his  dominions,  and  to 
endeavor  the  extirpation  thereof  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power." 

Q.  What  did  the  king  further  say  with  regard 
to  the  peace  with  the  Ir^h  confederates,  which 
he  had  so  recently  promised  to  observe  invio- 
late ? 

A.  **  That  it  was  null  and  void.".  ..."  That 
he  was  convinced  in  his  conscience  of  the  sinful- 
ness and  unlawfulness  of  it,  and  of  his  allowing 
them  (the  confederates)  the  liberty  of  the  Popish 
religion  ;  for  which  he  did  from  his  heart  desire 
to  be  deeply  humbled  before  the  Lord ;  and  for 
having  sought  unto  such  unlawful  help  for  the 
restoj-ing  of  him  to  his  throne." 

Q.  What  effect  had  this  base  perfidy  of  Charles 
on  the  Irish  people  ? 

A.  It  necessarily  withdrew  many  of  them  from 
their  allegiance ;  since  it  showed  them  how  utterly 
unworthy  of  trust  the  king  was;  and  with  what 
readiness  he  could  sacrifice  them  to  their  bitterest 
enemies  in  order  to  attain  his  own  ends. 

Q.  Had  the  Catholic  confederates  been  inva- 
riably faithful  to  the  late  unhappy  king  ? 

A.  So  faithful,  that  Ormond  himself  had  told 
his  majesty  that  several  of  the  soldiers  had  starved 
by  their  arms,  and  that  he  could  persuade  one  half 
of  his  army  to  starve  outright. 

Q.  Were  the  Protestants  equally  faithful  to 
that  unfortunate  monarch  ? 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  105 

A.  So  far  from  it,  that  their  leaders,  Sir  Charles 
Coote  and  Lord  Brocrhill,  with  the  entire  force 
under  their  command,  and  the  whole  army  in  the 
north,  had  deserted  from  the  late  kino;  to  the 
Puritan  rebels. 

Q.  Did  the  young  king's  base  ingratitude  to 
the  Irish  Catholics,  and  his  pledge  to  extirpate 
Popery,  avail  to  secure  him  in  his  throne? 

A.  No;  the  English  parliamentarians  refused 
to  trust  him,  despite  his  professions ;  and  he  was 
obliged  to  fly  from  England,  to  save  his  life. 

Q.    Who  was  Oliver  Cromwell?       . 

A.    One  of  the  parliamentarian  generals. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  he  come  to  Ireland  ? 

A.    In  1649 ;  the  year  of  the  late  king's  murder. 

Q.  How  did  Cromwell  begin  operations  in 
Ireland  ? 

A.  He  stormed  Drogheda  with  a  force  of 
10,000  men  and  a  well-appointed  battering  ar- 
tillery. 

Q.    How  did  the  garrison  defend  the  town"^ 

^4.  With  great  bravery.  They  twice  repulsed 
their  assailants;  but,  on  the  third  assault.  Colonel 
Wall  being  killed,  the  garrison  became  dismayed, 
and  offered  to  surrender  the  town  on  promise  of 
quarter. 

Q.  Did  Cromwell,  on  taking  possession  of  the 
town,  observe  this  promise  of  quarter  ? 

A.  No;  he  massacred  the  inhabitants  in  cold 
blood.  For  three  days  the  slaughter  continued; 
and  Cromwell,  in  his  despatch  to  the  English 
parliament,  thanked  God  ''for  that  great  mercy ^' 
as  he  called  it. 

Q.    Did  Cromwell  also  besiege  Wexford  ? 

A.  He  did,  and  he  massacred  three  hundred 
women  who  had  assembled  at  the  cross. 


106  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  In  which  of  the  three  kingdoms  did  the 
friends  of  the  royal  cause  hold  out  the  longest 
against  Cromwell? 

A.  In  Ireland.  The  Catholic  Irish  were  the 
last  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  to  relinquish 
their  exertions  in  the  king's  behalf,  as  Lord  Orrery 
testifies. 

Q.    How  did  the  Catholic  bishops  act  ? 

A.  They  excommunicated  all  persons  who 
should  oro  over  to  the  rebels.  And  Lord  Clan- 
ricarde,  acting  on  the  advice  of  the  Catholic 
assembly  convened  at  Loughrea,  issued  a  procla- 
mation denouncing  the  pains  of  high  treason 
against  all  persons  serving  in  Cromwell's  army, 
or  in  treaty  with  him ;  unless  within  twenty-one 
days  they  quitted  that  service,  and  abandoned  ail 
communication  with  the  rebels. 

Q.  What  were  the  chief  measures  of  Crom- 
well's Irish  opovernment? 

A.  Severe  laws  against  the  Catholic  reliorion 
and  priesthood.  The  ancient  possessions  of  the 
men  who  had  fouaht  for  the  king  were  given 
away  to  the  hordes  of  Cromwellian  adventurers ; 
and  all  the  loyal  Irish  who  survived  the  late  war, 
and  who  could  be  collected,  were  driven  into  the 
province  of  Connaught,  and  forbidden  to  re-cross 
the  Shannon  under  pain  of  death. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Cromwell  die? 

A.    In  1659. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  107 

CHAPTER   XX. 

The  Reign  of  Charles  the  Second. 

Q.  In  what  year  was  Charles  the  Second  re- 
stored to  his  throne  ? 

A.    In  1660. 

Q.  How  did  he  treat  the  Cromwellian  party 
who  had  fouffht  against  his  father  and  himself  in 
Ireland  1 

A.  He  confirmed  them  in  the  possession  of  the 
estates  they  had  seized  from  his  loyal,  sufferinij, 
Irish  Catholic  subjects;  and  two  of  the  chief 
Cromwellian  leaders  —  lord  Broghill  and  Sir 
Charles  Coote — he  favored,  by  creating  the 
former  earl  of  Orrery,  and  the  latter  earl  of 
Mountrath. 

Q.    When  did  the  new  Irish  parliament  meet? 

A,    In  1661. 

Q.  Of  what  materials  was  the  house  of  com- 
mons composed  ? 

A.  Chiefly  of  the  adventurers  who  had  acquired 
estates  under  Cromwell. 

Q.    What  was  their  character  ? 

A.  They  were  upstarts  from  the  very  lowest 
classes;  they  were  extremely  ignorant;  inflated 
with  spiritual  pride  ;  outrageously  impudent  and 
self-sufficient. 

Q.  What  were  the  subjects  that  engaged  the 
attention  of  this  parliament  1 

A.  The  restoration  of  the  Episcopal  Protestant 
Church,  and  the  settlement  of  the  confiscated  es- 
tates in  possession  of  the  Cromwellian  proprietors. 

Q.  Were  there  any  Catholic  members  in  that 
parliament  ? 


108  Catechism  of  the 

A.  Yes,  a  few ;  there  were  one  or  two  Catholic 
members  for  boroughs,  and  a  small  number  of 
Catholic  representatives  of  counties. 

Q.    How  did  the  Puritan  majority  treat  these  ? 

A.  They  tried  to  get  rid  of  them ;  first,  by  im- 
posing an  oath  of  qualification  which  no  Catholic 
could  take. 

Q.    Did  that  scheme  succeed  ? 

A.  No;  for  the  bill  they  prepared  for  imposing 
the  oath  was  quashed  by  the  English  privy- 
council. 

Q.    What  did  they  next  try  ? 

A.  They  tried  to  expel  the  Catholic  members 
by  a  vote  of  the  house  ;  but  the  lords  justices  con- 
demned that  project  as  being  an  infraction  on  the 
royal  prerogative. 

Q.  How  were  the  Puritanic  members  of  this 
parliament  induced  to  vote  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  ? 

.4.  By  the  dexterous  management  of  Ormond, 
who  postponed  the  question  of  settling  the  estates 
until  after  the  question  of  the  church  should  have 
been  disposed  of  The  Puritan  members  thus 
found  it  their  interest  to  conciliate  Ormond  by 
voting  for  the  establishment  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

Q.  Did  the  old  proprietors  make  a  struggle  for 
their  estates? 

A.  Yes  ;  their  claims  were  brought  before  the 
English  privy-council,  and  they  selected  Richard 
Talbot,  the  earl  of  Tyrconnel,  as  the  patron  of 
their  case. 

Q.    What  was  the  basis  of  their  claims  ? 

A.  Right  and  justice.  They  also  relied  much 
on  the  merits  of  their  own  loyalty  to  Charles  and 
his   father,  when  contrasted    with   the   rebellious 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  109 

conduct  of  the  Cromwell i an  party,  who  had  caused 
the  late  king's  murder. 

Q.  Did  these  claims  and  merits  weigh  with 
Charles? 

A.  Not  in  the  least.  He  looked  upon  the  ruined 
Irish  loyalists,  who  had  lost  their  all  in  his  service, 
as  being  too  weak  to  give  him  any  annoyance  in 
return  tor  his  desertion  of  their  interests  ;  whereas, 
the  Cromwellians  were  strong  enough  to  render  it 
worth  the  king's  while  to  conciliate  them. 

Q.    Did  any  other  motives  actuate  Charles  ? 

A. .  Yes ;  he  wanted  to  preserve  what  was 
called  "the  Enalish  interest  in  Ireland;"  and  as 
he  conceived  that  the  new  Cromwellian  propri- 
etors, from  their  bitter  hatred  of  the  Irish  people, 
were  the  fittest  tools  to  effectuate  that  object,  he 
readily  gave  them  the  assistance  of  his  influence. 

Q.    How  did  Ormond  act? 

A.  He  at  first  affected  a  desire  to  serve  the 
Irish  claimants  ;  but,  as  the  Cromwellian  parlia- 
ment had  bribed  him  with  a  grant  of  ^£30,000,  the 
Catholics  suspected  his  sincerity  and  refused 
his   aid. 

Q.    What  was  the  final  result? 

A.  The  confirmation  of  the  immense  majority 
of  the  Cromwellian  soldiers  and  adventurers  in  the 
forfeited  estates  ;  and  the  exclusion  of  nearlv  all 
the  Irish  claimants  from  any  redress  whatsoever. 

Q.  Had  Ormond  profited  by  his  share  in  the 
public  events  since  the  year  1641  ? 

A.  Yes;  his  estates,  prior  to  that  period,  had 
been  worth  about  =£7000  a  year  ;  but  after  the  Act 
of  Settlement,  his  property  amounted  to  the  annual 
value  of  £80,000. 

Q.  Have  the  Catholic  gentry  of  the  present  day 
10 


110  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

an  interest  in  subverting:  the  Cromwellian  settle- 
ment  of  property  ? 

A.  No ;  for  a  large  proportion  of  the  confis- 
cated lands  have  passed,  by  purchase,  into  the 
hands  of  Catholic  proprietors. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 
77ie  Reign  of  Charles  II.  continued. 

Q.  What  act  affecting  Ireland  was  next  passed 
by  the  English  Parliament  ? 

A.  An  act  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Irish 
cattle  into  England. 

Q.    Was  this  act  observed  ? 

A.  Yes,  until  the  great  fire  of  London ;  when 
the  Irish,  havincr  nothina  else  to  send  the  suiferers, 
sent  them  a  present  of  cattle  for  their  relief 

Q.    How  did  the  English  receive  this  gift? 

A.  They  represented  it  as  an  attempt  to  evade 
the  cattle  act. 

Q.    Did  Ormond  try  to  serve  any  Irish  interest? 

A.  Yes ;  he  promoted  the  linen  and  woollen 
manufacturers,  and  invited  over  the  ablest  foreign 
artizans  to  instruct  the  natives. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  how  were  the  hot  Protestant 
party  in  England  occupied  ? 

A.  In  devising  and  circulating  rumors  of  Popish 
plots,  conspiracies,  and  intended  massacres. 

Q.  What  measures  did  they  recommend  Or- 
mond to  take  ? 

A.  They  advised  him  to  expel  the  Catholic  in- 
habitants from  every  walled  town  in  Ireland,  and 

BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 


d  >  n  U't^yrtt  k     «-T»»» 


HIriTORY    OF    IRELAND.  Ill 

to  arrest  every  peer  and  gentleman  of  Irish 
lineacre. 

Q.    What  was  their  object  in  giving  this  advice? 

A.  To  goad  the  Irish  into  a  rebellion,  in  order 
to  afford  an  opportunity  for  fresh  confiscations. 

Q.    Did  Ormond  act  on  their  advice  ? 

A.  He  did  not;  and  thus  Ireland  was  preserved 
in  quiet,  and  the  hopes  of  those  persons  who  de- 
sired new  forfeitures  were  disappointed. 

Q.    Who  was  Oliver  Plunket  ? 

A.    The  Catholic  archbishop  of  Armagh. 

Q.    What  was  his  character  as  a  politician  ? 

A.  He  had  ever  been  thoroughly  loyal  to  the 
Stuart  dynasty. 

Q.    What  was  his  fate  ? 

A.  The  Eno-lish  zealots  dras^ed  him  to  Lon- 
don,  to  answer  for  his  alleged  participation  in  a 
rebellious  conspiracy.  He  offered  to  bring  wit- 
nesses from  Ireland  to  establish  his  innocence,  but 
was  refused  the  time  necessary  for  that  purpose. 
He  was  of  course  found  guilty,  and  hanged,  al- 
though not  a  tittle  of  credible  evidence  was  pro- 
duced against  him. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  Charles  die  ? 

A.  In  16S4  ;  not  without  the  suspicion  of  being 
poisoned. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

The  Reign  of  James  the  Second. 

Q.  Did  James  the  Second  remove  Ormond 
from  the  government  of  Ireland  ? 

A.  Yes ;  and  replaced  him  by  his  kinsman,  the 
earl  of  Clarendon. 


il2  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

Q.  What  was  Clarendon's  policy  with  regard 
to  the  Catholics  ? 

A.  He  admitted  them  into  the  Privy  Council, 
and  advanced  them  to  the  bench. 

Q.  What  was  James's  policy  with  reference  to 
the  religious  differences  of  his  subjects  ? 

A.  He  published  a  declaration,  giving  equal 
civil  privileges  to  all  classes  of  religionists. 

Q.  What  was  the  great  principle  of  the  Eng- 
lish revolution  of  1688? 

A.  Representative  government,  as  opposed  to 
the  arbitrary  power  of  despotic  monarchy. 

Q.  What  step  did  James  take  when  he  heard 
that  William  of  Orange  had  landed  in  England  to 
contest  the  throne  with  him  ? 

A.    He  fled  to  France. 

Q.  Who  was  at  that  time  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.    The  earl  of  Tyrconnel. 

Q.    What  was  Tyrconnel's  conduct?    / 

A.  He  pretended  to  the  Protestants  that  he  was 
desirous  to  necrotiate  with  William ;  whilst  he 
augmented  and  strengthened  by  all  the  means  in 
his  power  the  Catholic  army. 

Q.  How  did  the  enemies  of  the  Irish  Catholics 
act  at  this  juncture  ? 

A.  They  repeated  the  old  trick,  so  frequently 
used,  of  accusing  the  Catholics  of  a  purpose  to 
massacre  the  Protestants;  and  anonymous  letters, 
professing  to  give  the  most  accurate  details  of  the 
plot,  were  extensively  circulated  amongst  the 
Protestant  party  by  desiorning  persons. 

Q.  What  terms  did  William  of  Orange  offer  to 
the  Irish  Catholics  ? 

A.  He  offered  them  the  possession  of  a  third 
part  of  the  churches  in  the  kingdom  ;  equality  of 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  113 

civil  and  religious  privileges  with  all  other  religious 
persuasions  ;  and  as  full  security  of  person  and 
property  as  any  other  class  of  the  subjects  of  the 
crown  enjoyed. 

Q.    Did  the  Irish  Catholics  accept  these  offers? 

A.  They  did  not.  They  believed  themselves 
bound  in  conscience  to  preserve  their  loyalty  to 
James,  and  they  looked  upon  William  as  a 
usurper. 

Q.    What  were  Kin^  James's  movements  ? 

A.  He  resolved  to  strike  a  blow  for  his  crown 
in  Ireland  ;  and  accordingly  sailed  from  France 
to  Kinsale,  where  he  landed  on  the  12th  of 
March,  16S9. 

Q.    What  reception  did  he  meet  1 

A.  A  most  loyal  one  from  the  corporations, 
gentry,  and  clergy.  Even  the  clergy  of  the  Prot- 
estant church  vied  with  the  Catholic  priesthood  in 
their  ardent  professions  of  allegiance. 

Q.    When  did  the  Irish  parliament  meet? 

A.  In  May,  1689.  The  king  opened  the  ses- 
sion in  person. 

Q.  Was  that  parliament  a  fair  representation 
of  the  Irish  people? 

A.  Yes;  it  included  Catholics  and  Protestants. 
The  former  predominated  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. There  were  Protestant  bishops  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  but  no  Catholic  prelates. 

Q.    W^hat  were  the  topics  of  the  king's  speech  ? 

A.  His  majesty  denounced  all  violations  of  the 
rights  of  conscience  as  abhorrent  to  his  princi- 
ples ;  he  promised  security  of  property  ;  he  upheld 
the  perfect  equality  of  Protestants  and  Catholics  ; 
he  called  the  attention  of  parliament  to  the  trading 
and  manufacturing  interests  of  the  nation;  and 
recommended  to   their  core  those  persons  whom 

10* 


114  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

the  Act  of  Settlement  had  unjustly  deprived  of 
their  property. 

Q.    What  acts  did  this  parliament  pass  ? 

A.  An  act  for  the  full  establishment  of  liberty 
of  conscience.  This  act  had  the  warm  assent  of 
every  Catholic  member  of  this  parliament,  in 
which  the  great  majority  of  members  were  Cath- 
olics. 

Q.  Was  it  accordant  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Irish  Catholics  at  large  ? 

A.  Preeminently  so.  Neither  then,  nor  at  any 
other  time,  did  the  Irish  Catholics  desire  the  ex- 
clusion of  any  class  of  their  countrymen  from  any 
political  privilege  which  they  themselves  enjoyed. 

Q.  What  other  measures  did  the  parliament  of 
16S9  enact? 

A.  It  enacted  that  tithes  should  be  paid  by 
each  person  to  the  pastor  of  his  own  communion. 
The  two  houses,  also,  passed  a  bill  repealing 
Poynings's  law,*  and  establishing  the  legislative 
and  judicial  independence  of  Ireland;  but  it  was 
negatived  by  the  miserable  James,  to  whom  it  ap- 
peared inconsistent  with  his  favorite  notion  of 
"an  English  interest"  in  Ireland. 

Q.  Was  the  Act  of  Settlement  repealed  this 
session  ? 

A.  Yes;  and  the  forfeited  estates  which  the 
Cromwellian  adventurers  had  obtained,  were 
thereby  restored  to  the  former  owners,  who  had 
lost  them  through  their  loyalty  to  the  house  of 
Stuart, 

Q.  What  grant  did  the  Irish  Parliament  make 
James  1 

A.   Twenty  thousand  pounds  per  month. 

*  See  page  61  _.  (mte. 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  115 

Q.  What  financial  scheme  had  James  recourse 
to? 

A.  He  issued  a  proclamation,  doubling  the 
value  of  money. 

Q.  How  did  the  traders  and  merchants  evade 
this  proclamation? 

A.  By  instantly  doubling  the  prices  of  their 
goods. 

Q.    Did  James  besiege  the  city  of  Derry  ? 

A.  Yes ;  the  assault  was  commanded  by  Gen- 
eral Hamilton  ;  the  defence  was  conducted  by  a 
dissenting  clergyman  named  Walker  ;  and  when 
we  consider  the  want  of  previous  discipline,  the 
want  of  provisions  in  the  garrison  during  a  great 
portion  of  the  siege,  and  the  dispiriting  tendency 
of  the  treacherous  conduct  of  Lundy,  the  govern- 
or of  the  town,  —  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  too 
highly  the  spirit,  valor,  and  gallantry  of  the  Prot- 
estant people  of  Derry. 

Q.    What  was  the  issue  of  the  conflict  ? 

A.  The  Derry  men  kept  their  town  for  Wil- 
liam ;  and  the  assailants  retreated  on  the  arrival 
of  vessels  in  the  harbor  bearing  provisions  for 
the  gallant  inhabitants —  whose  defence  forms  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  achievements  in  the  annals 
of  modern  warfare. 


CHAPTER   XXHI. 
Strussle  hetioeen  James  and  William. 


"tils' 


Q.   What  measures  did  William  of  Orange  take 
against  James,  in  Ireland  ? 


IIG  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

A.  He  sent  his  Dutch  general,  Count  Schom- 
berg,  with  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men,  into  this 
country. 

Q.    When  and  where  did  they  land  ? 

A.  They  landed  on  the  13th  of  August,  1689, 
at  Bangor  Bay,  near  Carrickfergus. 

Q.  What  was  the  character  of  the  Williamite 
army  ? 

A.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Gorge,  who  was  chaplain  to 
Schomberg,  describes  them  as  wallowing  in  profli- 
gacy too  odious  and  loathsome  for  description. 
They  were,  however,  brave  and  well-trained 
soldiers. 

Q.    What  was  Schomberg's  first  attempt  ? 

A.    The  siege  of  Carrickferaus. 

Q.  Who  was  the  Jacobite  governor  of  the 
town  1 

A.    M'Carthy  More. 

Q.   Did  he  make  a  gallant  defence? 

A.  He  did  not  surrender  until  his  last  grain  of 
po\vder  was  exhausted ;  and  he  then  obtained 
honorable  terms  from  Schombera. 

Q.  Did  Schomberg's  army  observe  the  terms 
of  capitulation  ? 

A.  No;  they  scandalously  violated  their  engage- 
ments, and  rioted  in  every  excess  of  flagitious 
license.  Female  virtue  was  outraged,  and  private 
property  was  plundered  and  devastated. 

Q.  Did  the  native  Irish,  in  the  various  civil 
wars  of  the  kingdom,  ever  offer  injury  or  insult  to 
the  females  of  the  opposite  party? 

A.  Never;  and  this  fact  is  a  proud  and  honor- 
able boast  for  our  nation;  especially  when  con- 
trasted with  the  beastly  licentiousness  that  marked 
the  conduct  of  the  English  soldiery  in  Ireland  in 
every  civil  strife. 


HISTORY    UF    IRELAND.  117 

Q.  Did  Schomberg  countenance  the  ruffianism 
of  his  men  at  Carrickfero;us  ? 

A.  No;  he  endeavored  to  check  them;  and 
thereby  obtained  their  hatred. 

Q.  Whither  did  he  advance  from  Carrick- 
fergus  ? 

A.    Aloncr  the  coast  of  Dundalk. 

Q.    In  what  condition  did  he  find  the  country  ? 

A.  Reduced  to  a  mere  desert  by  the  previous 
civil  warfare. 

Q.    What  was  the  state  of  Schomberg's  men  ? 

A.  They  suffered  severely  from  the  want  of 
provisions,  and  the  fatigue  of  marching  through  a 
bogcry  and  mountainous  country. 

Q.  What  were  the  counsels  of  James's  gener- 
als ! 

A.  They  were  disposed  to  retreat  before 
Schomberg,  until  the  earl  of  Tyrconnel  reassured 
them  by  promising  a  large  reenforcement. 

Q.    What  was  Schomberg's  conduct? 

A.  He  paused  near  Dundalk,  and  fortified  his 
camp  with  entrenchments. 

Q.  Did  James's  army  engage  that  of  Schom- 
berg ? 

A.  No ;  the  timid  and  vacillating  spirit  of 
the  king  appears  to  have  influenced  his  generals. 
The  men  were  dissatisfied  at  not  beins  led  against 
the  enemy. 

Q.  What  were  Marshal  Rosen's  words  to 
James  ? 

A.  "  If  your  majesty  had  ten  kingdoms,  you 
would  lose  them." 

Q.  Why  did  not  Schomberg  engage  James's 
army? 

A.   Because  his  men  were  exhausted  by  disease 


118  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

and  hunger,  and  must  have  inevitably  been  de- 
feated if  they  quitted  their  position. 

Q.  What  losses  did  the  Williamites  sustain 
just  then? 

A.  They  lost  Sligo  and  Jamestown,  which 
were  stormed  and  taken  by  the  gallant  Sarsfield, 
earl  of  Lucan :  a  man  of  whom  Irishmen  mav 
well  be  proud. 

Q.    How  did  Schomberg's  campaign  terminate? 

A.  In  the  destruction,  by  disease  and  famine, 
of  the  greater  portion  of  his  army ;  while  no 
advantage  of  any  importance  had  been  gained  by 
his  efforts  against  James,  excepting  the  capture 
of  the  tort  of  Charlemont. 

Q.    On  what  course  did  William  then  resolve? 

A.    On  proceeding  to  Ireland  himself 

Q.    Where  and  when  did  iie  land  ? 

A.  At  Carrickfergus  on  the  1 4th  of  June, 
16D0. 

Q.    By  whom  was  he  attended? 

A.  By  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  the  duke 
of  Ormond,  and  a  larcre  train  of  followers  of  rank. 

Q.    What  was  the  number  of  William's  army? 

A.    Thirty-six  thousand  picked  men. 

Q.    What  were  James's  movements? 

A.  As  soon  as  he  learned  that  William  had 
landed,  he  proceeded  to  join  his  army,  which 
were  now  encamped  on  the  southern  bank  of  the 
Boyne,  near  Drogheda. 

Q.  When  did  William's  army  arrive  at  the 
Boyne  ? 

A.  At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  of  the 
30th  of  June. 

Q.    How  were  James's  army  then  posted? 

A.    They  had  Drogheda  to  their  right ;  a  deep 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  119 

bog  to  their  left ;  the  Boyne  in  their  front,  and 
some  hedges  between  their  lines  and  the  river, 
which  could  be  used  as  breast-works  for  infantry'. 

Q.    What  peril  did  William  escape? 

A.  While  reconnoitring  James's  position  from 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  he  was  struck  on 
the  right  shoulder  by  a  ball  from  James's  lines ; 
whilst  another  shot  killed  a  man  and  two  horses 
in  his  immediate  vicinity.  He,  however,  esccped 
with  a  slight  wound,  and  rode  through  his  army 
to  counteract  the  dispiriting  effects  of  a  report  of 
his  death  that  had  been  spread. 

Q.  How  was  James  affected  by  the  approach 
of  battle  ? 

A.  He  had  blustered  a  great  deal  upon  the 
previous  day  about  his  anxiety  to  risk  an  engage- 
ment ;  but  he  now  was  eagerly  anxious  to  avoid 
encountering  his  opponent. 

Q.    Was  this  from  sheer  poltroonery  ? 

A.  Partly  it  was  so,  no  doubt;  but  William's 
army  was  so  vastly  superior  to  his  own  in  artillery, 
as  well  as  in  numbers,  that  the  French  generals 
of  James  would  have  willingly  escaped  an  engage- 
ment. The  Irish,  however,  expresed  their  perfect 
readiness  to  ficrht. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

TTie  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  the  Sieges  of  Ath- 
lone  and  Limerick. 

Q.   On  what  day  was  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne 
fought  ? 

4.    On  the  first  of  July,  1690. 


120  CATECHISM   OF    THE 

Q.  Did  James  take  an  active  part  in  the 
battle  ? 

A.  No ;  he  looked  on  at  the  contest  from  the 
hill  of  Donore  ;  and  when  a  portion  of  William's 
army  gave  way  before  the  charge  of  the  Irish 
dragoons,  he  exclaimed,  "  Spare,  O  spare  my 
English  subjects ! " 

Q  What  was  the  progress  and  event  of  the 
battle  ? 

A.  Great  valor  was  displayed  on  both  sides; 
but  the  great  superiority,  in  point  of  numbers  and 
equipments,  on  the  part  of  William's  army,  de- 
cided the  victory  in  their  favor.  Exclusively  of 
the  numerical  advantacre,  the  Williamites  were  en- 
couraged  by  the  presence  of  a  monarch  who  led 
them  with  bravery  and  skill ;  whilst  the  Jacobites 
were  dispirited  by  the  cowardice  and  incapacity 
of  the  miserable  James. 

Q.  What  did  the  Irish  soldiers  say  when  James 
fled  to  Dublin  ? 

A.  Their  cry  was,  "  Change  kings,  and  we'll 
fis[ht  the  battle  over  aorain." 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  William's  soldiers 
after  the  battle  ? 

A.  The  Enniskilleners,  and  some  other  des- 
peradoes, murdered  in  cold  blood  many  of  the 
peasantry  whom  curiosity  had  drawn  to  the  spot. 

Q.    Who  received  James  at  Dublin  Castle  1 

A.  Lady  Tyrconnel  received  him  on  the  stair- 
case ;  and  when  his  majesty,  with  base  ingratitude 
and  falsehood,  ascribed  the  event  of  the  battle  to 
the  cowardice  of  the  Irish,  *'  who,"  he  said,  "  had 
run  away,"  Lady  Tyrconnel  replied  with  spirit: 
"Your  majesty,  I  see,  has  won  the  race!"  In 
truth,  James  had  not  waited  for  the  end  of  the  en- 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  121 

gagement,  but  had  precipitately  fled  to   Dublin, 
leaving  the  day  yet  undecided. 

Q.    What  commission  did  William  issue  ? 

A.  A  commission  to  confiscate  the  estates  of 
all  the  Jacobite  leaders  who  had  taken  up  arms. 

Q.  What  was  William's  next  military  enter- 
prise ? 

A.  The  seige  of  Athlone.  This  service  was 
intrusted  to  General  Douglas,  who  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  ten  regiments  of  foot,  and  five  of 
horse. 

Q.  Who  was  the  Jacobite  governor  of  Ath- 
lone ? 

A.    Colonel  Grace. 

Q.  When  summoned  by  Douglas  to  surrender, 
what  was  Grace's  answer? 

A.  He  fired  a  pistol  at  the  messenger,  desiring 
him  to  take  that  as  his  reply. 

Q.    V/hat  was  Douglas's  next  proceeding  ? 

A.  He  constructed  a  battery  in  front  of  the 
town,   and  opened   a  fire  on  the  castle. 

Q.    How  did  the  garrison  meet  the  attack? 

A.  By  returning  Douglas's  fire  from  the  castle 
witli  tremendous  effect.  His  best  gunner  was 
killed,  and  his  battery  was  destroyed.  He  was 
accordinorly  obliged  to  raise  the  siesje. 

Q.    When  did  William  besiege  Limerick  ? 

A.    On  the  9th  of  August,  1690. 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  his  army  prior  to 
the  sieje  ? 

A.  They  renewed  the  brutalities  they  had  prac- 
tised at  Athlone.  They  plundered  and  burned 
the  country,  and  committed  acts  of  the  grossest 
licentiousness. 

Q.  What  defence  did  the  Irish  garrison  of 
Limerick  make  ? 

11 


122  CATECHIS3I    OF    THE 

A.  A  most  gallant  one.  Even  the  women  min- 
gled amongst  the  soldiers,  and  fought  as  valiantly 
as  the  men.  They  declared  that  they  would 
rather  be  torn  in  pieces  than  submit  to  the  power 
of  wretches  who  were  guilty  of  such  foul  abomina- 
tions as  the  Williamite  army  had  committed. 

Q.    How  lonor  did  the  conflict  last? 

-4.  For  tliree  hours ;  when  William  retreated 
from  Limerick,  seeing  that  success  was  perfectly 
hopeless. 

Q.    How  many  men  did  William  lose  ? 

A.    Two  thousand. 

Q.  How  did  the  advances  of  his  army  affect 
the  condition  of  the  Protestants  who  inhabited  ihe 
country  ? 

A.  Most  disastrously ;  for  the  Protestints  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Limerick,  and  also  of  Ath- 
lone,  had  previously  lived  in  security  under  the 
protections  they  had  taken  out  from  the  Jacobite 
garrisons  of  those  places  ;  but  on  the  approach  of 
William's  army,  they  had  surrendered  their  pro- 
tections and  gone  over  to  the  invading  army  ;  by 
whom  they  were  treated  with  the  utmost  indignity, 
and  even  brutality, 

Q.    What  walled  city  was  next  attacked  ? 

A.  Cork,  which  was  taken  after  a  brave  de- 
fence ;  the  inhabitants  having  stipulated  for  pro- 
tection for  their  persons  and  property. 

Q.    Were  these  terms  observed  ? 

A.  No  ;  a  Williamite  mob  abused  the  persons 
PTid  plundered  the  property  of  the  Catholic  and 
Jacobite  inhabitants;  in  which  acts  of  license  they 
were  joined  by  the  triumphant  soldiery. 

Q.  What  was  the  amount  of  the  confiscations 
under  William  ? 

A.    One  million  and  sixty  thousand  acres. 


HISTORY    or    IRELAND.  \2'd 

Q.  What  town  of  importance  did  William  be- 
sieofe  the  ensain^  year  ? 

A.    Athlone. 

Q.   Who  conducted  the  assault  ? 

A.    General  Ginckle. 

Q.    When  did  he  appear  before  the  town  ? 

A.    On  the  18th  of  June,  1691. 

Q.    What  resisiance  did  the  garrison  make  ? 

A.  A  most  valiant  one.  The  assailing  force 
was  now  fir  superior  to  that  which  Geueial  Doug- 
las had  brought  against  the  town  on  the  occasion 
of  the  previous  siege. 

Q.  How  many  cannon  did  Ginckle  mount  ou 
his  battery  ? 

A.  Ten  ;  with  which  he  opened  a  tremendous 
fire  on  the  town  and  castle.  The  bridore  had  been 
broken  by  Grace  in  the  former  siege,  and  the 
English  now  repaired  the  breach  with  wood- work, 
under  cover  of  the  smoke  of  burning  buildinars. 

Q.    How  did  the  Irish  meet  this  attempt  ? 

A.  A  sergeant  and  ten  men,  cased  in  arinor, 
rushed  forth  from  the  town  to  destroy  the  wooden 
passaofe  the  Enorlish  had  made. 

Q.    What  was  the  fate  of  this  brave  little  party  ? 

A.  They  w^ere  destroyed  by  a  shot  from  the 
English  battery. 

Q.    Was  their  attempt  renewed  by  others  ? 

-4.  Yes  ;  a  second  party  from  the  town  filled 
their  places,  and  succeeded  in  destroving  the 
wood-work  on  the  bridge.  Only  two  of  this  party 
survived  their  desperate  exploit. 

Q.    What  was  the  result  on  the  invadinof  force? 

A.  Ginckle  was  unable  for  nine  days  to  repeat 
his  assault. 

Q.  When  he  did  renew  his  attack,  how  did  the 
Irish  act  ? 


124  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

A.  They  threw  grenades  into  all  the  wooden 
works  on  which  he  had  been  occupied  during  the 
interval  ;  and  all  his  pontoons,  galleries,  and 
breast-works,  were  consumed  to  ashes. 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  Kino-  James's 
French  general,  St.  Ruth  ? 

A.  He  most  absurdly  removed  the  brave  men 
who  so  ably  garrisoned  Athlone,  and  supplied 
their  places  with  inferior  regiments. 

Q.  Meanwhile,  how  was  Ginckle  occupied  ? 

A.  He  seriously  debated  with  his  officers 
whether  he  should  abandon  the  sieore,  or  renew 
the  assault.  His  own  opinion  was  in  favor  of 
retreating  ;  his  officers,  however,  prevailed  on  him 
to  renew  his  attempt  by  fording  the  river  next 
morning. 

Q.  How  did  Ginckle  try  to  throw  the  garrison 
off  their  guard? 

A.  He  began  to  remove  his  guns  from  the  bat- 
teries, as  if  he  were  preparing  to  depart, 

Q.    Did  this  trick  deceive  the  Irish  officers  ? 

A.  No  ;  and  they  implored  St.  Ruth  to  prepare 
for  another  assault  on  the  town. 

Q.    What  was  St.  Ruth's  reply  ? 

A.  "  The  English,"  said  he,  "  will  not  dare  to 
try  it." 

Q.  What  did  the  Irish  General,  Sarsfield, 
answer  ? 

A.  "  No  enterprise,"  said  Sarsfield,  "  is  too 
great  for  English   valor." 

Q.  Did  St,  Ruth  comply  with  the  advice  of  his 
Irish  officers  ? 

A.  No ;  he  was  obstinate  and  self-sufficient, 
and  refused  to  believe  that  Ginckle  would  really 
hazard  another  attack.  He  accordingly  neglected 
to  make  any  preparations  of  defence  ;  and  on  the 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  125 

next  mornincr  the  English  had  forded  the  river  and 
entered  the  town  ere  St.  Ruth  had  wakened  from 
his  slumbers. 

Q.  Where  did  St.  Ruth  retreat  to,  with  his 
armv,  after  he  had  lost  Athlone  ? 

A.  To  the  hill  of  Kilcommodon,  near  the  castle 
of  Aughrim,  in  the  county  of  Gal  way. 

Q.  On  what  day  was  the  battle  of  Aughrim 
fought  ? 

A.    On  the  I2th  of  Julv,  1691. 

Q.    What  were  the  fortunes  of  the  day  ? 

A.  Victory  seemed  for  a  long  time  to  favcr 
the  Irish,  who  succeeded  in  several  charges,  and 
were  quite  triumphant  on  the  right  and  in  the 
centre  ;  vvheu  St.  Ruth  was  killed  by  a  shot  from 
the  enemy's  cannon.  Confusion  overspread  the 
Irish  army  on  the  loss  of  tiieir  commander,  and 
was  speedily  followed   by  defeat. 

Q.    What  w^as  the  character  of  St.  Ruth? 

A.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  brave  and  able  gen- 
eral ;  but  his  merits  were  counterbalanced  by  his 
excessive  presumption,  self-confidence,  vanity  and 
obstinacy. 

Q.  Did  William  renew  his  attempt  against 
Limerick  ? 

A.    Yes  ;  on  the  2oth  August,  1691. 

Q.  To  whom  did  he  commit  the  conduct  of 
the  second  siege  ? 

A,    To  Ginckle 

Q.    Was  the  siege  protracted  ? 

A.  Yes,  for  several  weeks  ;  and  after  an  ob- 
stinate struggle,  in  which  the  greatest  heroism 
was  displayed  on  both  sides,  the  city  surrendered 
upon  the  terms  imbodied  in  the  celebrated 
*'  Treaty  of  Limerick." 

11* 


126  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The   Treaty  of  Limerick, 

Q.  What  were  the  advantages  promised  to  the 
Irish  Catholics  in  the  treaty  of  Limerick  ? 

A.  All  the  Catholics  were  to  enjoy  the  exercise 
of  their  religion  in  as  full  and  free  a  manner  as 
they  had  done  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second. 
It  was  stipulated  also  that,  as  soon  as  parliament 
met,  their  majesties  should  try  to  obtain  for  the 
Catholics  additional  legislative  security  for  the 
freedom  of  their  worship. 

Q.    What  was  the  next  provision  in  the  treaty  ? 

A.  That  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  counties  of 
Limerick,  Cork,  Clare,  Kerry,  and  Mayo,  who 
had  taken  up  arms  for  King  James,  should  possess 
their  estates  and  pursue  their  callings  and  profes- 
sions unmolested. 

Q.    What  other  rio-ht  was  secured  to  the  Cath- 
olic  gentry  ? 

A.   They  were  allowed  to  keep  arms. 

Q.  And  what  oaths  were  required  to  be  taken 
by  them  ? 

A.  None,  except  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Wil- 
liam and  Mary. 

Q.  What  provision  was  made  by  the  treaty  for 
all  officers  and  soldiers  who  might  refuse  to  remain 
in  Ireland  on  the  above  conditions? 

A.  They  were  to  be  sent  to  France  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  government. 

Q.  What  was  then  the  number  of  the  Irish 
army  at  Limerick? 

A.   They  were  fifteen  thousand  strong. 


HISTORY   OF    IRELAND.  127 

Q.  How  many  of  them  resolved  to  depart  from 
Ireland  and  enter  the  service  of  France  ? 

A.  About  twelve  thousand  five  hundred.  They 
formed  the  commencement  of  the  celebrated  Irish 
Brigade,  which,  during  the  last  century,  contrib- 
uted so  greatly  to  the  honor  of  French  arms. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

The  Reign  of  Williain  and  Mary,  concluded. 

Q.  Was  the  treaty  of  Limerick  faithfully  ob- 
served by  the  government  1 

A.    No;  it  was  shamefully  violated. 

Q.  Wh;U  did  Dr.  Dopping,  the  Protestant 
bishop  of  Meath,  say  of  it  ? 

A.  He  preached  a  sermon  before  the  lords 
justices  at  Christ's  Church,  Dublin,  in  which  he 
affirmed  that  Protestants  were  not  bound  to  keep 
faith  with  Papists  ;  at  the  same  time  denouncing 
the  articles  of  the  treaty. 

Q.    Was  the  bishop  replied  to  ? 

A.  He  was,  by  another  Protestant  prelate, 
Doctor  Moreton,  bishop  of  Kildare ;  who  alleged 
that  the  treaty  was  binding  on  men  of  good  faith, 
and  that  Protestants  could  not  be  exonerated  from 
keeping  their  promises  to  Papists. 

Q.  Did  the  English  parliament  violate  the 
treaty? 

A.  Yes.  By  an  audacious  usurpation  of  power 
over  the  Irish  legislature,  the  English  parliament 
enacted,  "that  all  the  members  of  the  Irish 
legislature  should  take  the  oath  of  supremacy ;^' 
although   the   treaty  of  Limerick   had  expressly 


l^S  CATECillSM    OF    THE 

provided,  in  its  ninth  ariicle,  that  no  oath  what- 
soever should  be  imposed  upon  the  Irish  Catholics 
except  the  oath  of  allegiance.  In  subsequent 
reigns,  the  treaty  was  yet  more  flagrantly  vio- 
lated. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  parliament,  at  this  period  of 
national  depression  and  weakness,  protect  in  any 
way  the  interests  of  their  country  ? 

A.  Yes ;  the  Irish  house  of  commons  rejected 
a  money-bill  which  had  been  forwarded  from 
Encrland  for  their  fiat:  assertincr  their  own  exclu- 
sive  right  to  originate  all  money-bills. 

Q.  Of  what  materials  was  the  Irish  house  of 
commons  at  this  time  composed  \ 

A.  Chiefly  of  the  sons  of  Cromwellian  adven- 
turers, and  other  supporters  of  what  was  called 
"the  Protestant  interest."  There  were  a  very 
small  number  of  Catholics  yet  in  the  house. 

Q.  How  did  that  parliament  violate  the  treaty 
of  Limerick  ? 

A.  By  an  act  disabling  the  Catholics  from 
educating  their  children,  or  beinor  o-uardians  of 
their  own  or  other  people's  children  ;  also  by  an 
act  disarming  the  Catholics;  and  by  another  act 
to  expel  all  Catholic  prelates  and  priests  from  the 
kingdom.  They  also  passed  laws  to  prevent  the 
intermarriages  of  Protestants  with  Catholics;  and 
to  prevent  Catholics  from  being  ativrneys  or  game- 
keepers. 

Q.  What  address  did  the  English  parliament 
present  to  William  in  1698  on  the  subject  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.  An  address  praying  him  to  discourage  the 
woollen  manufacture  of  Ireland. 

Q.    What  v.'as  William's  answer  ? 

A.    "  I  shall  do  all  that  in  me  lies  to  discourage 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  129 

the  woollen  manufacture  of  Ireland,  and  to  en- 
courage the  linen  manufacture  therein." 

Q.  Did  William  keep  his  promise  to  discourage 
our  woollen  trade? 

A.    He  did. 

Q.  Did  he  keep  his  promise  to  encourage  our 
linen  trade  ? 

A.    He  did  not. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  William  die? 

A.  In  1701.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin 
and  sister-in-law,  Anne  Stuart. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Reign  of  Queen  Anne. 

Q.  What  enactments  were  passed  against  the 
Catholics  in  the  reign  of  Anne  ? 

A.  The  code  generally  known  as  the  penal 
laws. 

Q.  What  were  the  penalties  inflicted  by  that 
code  ? 

A.  The  Catholics  were  thereby  rendered  in- 
capable of  acquiring  landed  property  in  fee,  or 
by  lease  for  any  term  longer  than  thirty-one  years; 
and  even  for  that  limited  term  they  were  not 
permitted  to  possess  an  interest  in  their  land 
greater  than  one  third  the  amount  of  the  rent,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  the  entire  to  the  first  Protestant 
who  should  discover  the  extent  of  such  interest. 

Q.    State  some  other  enactments  of  the  code. 

A.  If  the  child  of  a  Papist  possessing  an  estate 
should  conform  to  Protestantism,  the  parent  was 
debarred  from   disposing  of  his  property  by  sale, 


130  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

mortgage,  or  will;  and  the  court  of  chancery  was 
empowered  to  order  an  annuity  out  of  the  estate, 
for  the  use  of  such  conforming  child. 

Q.    What  other  penal  laws  were  passed? 

A.  Catholics  were  declared  incapable  of  in- 
heritincr  the  estates  of  their  Protestant  relations. 
The  estate  of  a  Catholic  who  had  not  a  Protest  uit 
heir  was  to  be  divided  in  gavel  among  all  his 
children.  All  men  were  to  be  qualified  for  office, 
or  as  voters  at  elections,  by  taking  the  oath  of 
abjuration,  and  hy  receiving  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  as  administered  in  the  Established 
Protestant  Church  !  !  !  A  Catholic  possessing  a 
horse  —  no  matter  of  what  value  —  was  compelled 
to  surrender  the  horse  to  any  Protestant  on  pay- 
ment of  five  pounds. 

Q.  Was  there  a  more  specific  violation  of  the 
treaty  of  Limerick  than  the  scandalous  enact- 
ments you  have  mentioned  ? 

A.  Yes ;  the  parliament  enacted  a  law  which 
expressly,  and  by  name,  deprived  the  Catholics  of 
G.dway  and  Limerick  of  the  protection  guaranteed 
to  them  by  that  treaty. 

Q.  Was  a  bribe  held  out  to  Catholic  priests 
to  become  Protestants  ? 

A.  Yes ;  a  grant  of  forty  pounds  per  annum 
was  made  to  every  "  Popish  "  priest  who  should 
embrace  the  established  religion. 

Q.  What  was  the  object  of  the  Irish  Protestant 
parliament  in  their  shameless  infraction  of  the 
treaty  of  Limerick,  and  their  violent  and  ferocious 
enactments  against  their  Catholic  fellow-country- 
men? 

A.  They  were  haunted  by  incessant  fears  that 
the  Catholics  would  try  to  recover  the  estates 
which   had   been   uTested    from   them   by   every 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  131 

variety  of  flagitious  crime ;  and  they  therefore 
labored  to  depress  and  weaken  the  objects  of  their 
terror  to  the  utmost. 

Q.  Were  there  any  instances  of  Protestant 
good  faith  in  that  dark  and  dreary  period? 

A.  Yes ;  many  instances  in  private  life.  Es- 
tated  Catholics  who  dreaded  "Protestant  discov- 
erers "  often  made  over  their  properties  in  trust  to 
friendly  Protestants,  even  in  the  humblest  ranks, 
ii)  order  to  evade  the  operation  of  the  demon-law ; 
and  in  no  one  case  did  the  Protestants  who  were 
thus  confided  in  abuse  the  trust  which  the  Catholic 
proprietors  reposed  in  them.  It  is  said  that  one 
poor  Protestant  barber  had  half  the  Catholic 
estates  of  a  southern  county  in  trust. 

Q.  Was  there,  in  this  reign,  a  rumor  of  an 
attempt  by  the  son  of  James  the  Second  to  recover 
the  crown  of  these  kingdoms  ? 

A.    Yes;  in  1708. 

Q.  What  effect  had  that  rumor  on  the  affairs 
of  the  Irish  Catholics  ? 

A.  It  served  as  a  pretext  to  the  Protestant 
authorities  to  arrest  forty-one  of  the  principal 
Catliolic  nobility  and  gentry. 

Q.  How  did  the  Irish  Catholics  at  that  time 
feel  disposed  towards  James  the  Second's  fam- 
ily  ? 

A.  They  regarded  them  with  aversion  and 
disgust;  for  they  had  a  bitter  experience  of 
their  tyrannical  disposition,  treachery,  filsehood, 
and    base    iiicrratitude    to   those  who    had  fought 


o 


and  bled   in  their  cause,  and  lost  their  all  in  their 


service. 


Q.    Did  the  Irish  parliament,  in  the  reign  of 
Anne,  show  a  single  spark  of  national  feeling? 


132  CATECHISM   OF    THE 

A.  Yes;  in  1709  a  money-bill  was  thrown  out, 
because  the  English  privy-council  had  presumed 
to  alter  it. 

Q.    What  do  we  learn  from  this  fact  ? 

A.  That  since  the  pressure  of  their  own  in- 
terests could  sometimes  impel  even  a  parliament 
so  anti-national  as  was  that  assembly,  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  patriotic  act,  —  the  residence  of  an 
Irish  legislature,  harmonizing  with  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, and  truly  representing  their  wishes  and  in- 
terests, would  be  the  best  possible  safeguard  and 
promoter  of  the  nation's  prosperity. 

Q.    When  did  Queen  Anne  die  ? 

A.   In  Auorust,  1714. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

The  Reign  of  George  the  First. 

Q.  Whilst  the  Irish  parliament  was  employed 
in  the  enactment  of  restrictive  laws  against  the 
Catholics,  what  advantage  was  taken  by  the  Eng- 
lish legislature  of  the  national  weakness  thus 
created  ? 

A.  In  the  sixth  year  of  George  the  First,  the 
English  parliament  enacted  a  law,  declaring  itself 
possessed  of  full  power  and  authority  to  make 
laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force  and  validity 
to  bind  the  people  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland. 
The  English  parliament  also  deprived  the  Irish 
house  of  lords  of  its  final  jurisdiction  in  cases 
of  appeal.  ^ 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  133 

Q.    Was  not  this  a  gross  usurpation  of  power  1 

A.  Of  course  it  was;  but  Ireland,  from  the 
divisions  between  her  inhabitants,  was  just  then 
too  weak  to  resist  it. 

Q.  Was  the  Irish  parliament,  during  this 
reign,  engaged  in  imposing  new  penalties  on  the 
Catholics  1 

A.  Yes;  such  was  the  infatuation  of  its 
bigotry,  a  bill  was  actually  passed  by  both 
houses,  which  decreed  a  personal  penalty  on 
every  Catholic  ecclesiastic,  of  so  revoltiiigly 
indecent  a  nature  that  it  cannot  be  explicitly 
mentioned. 

Q.    Did  that  bill  pass  into  a  law? 

A.  No;  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  the  English 
prime  minister,  exerted  his  influence,  for  very 
shame's  sake,  to  procure  its  defeat  in  the  English 
privy  council. 

Q.    Who  was  Dean  Swift? 

A.  An  Irish  Protestant  divine  of  distinguished 
abilities.  He  combined  both  Protestants  and 
Catholics  in  powerful  opposition  to  a  govern- 
ment scheme  for  empowering  a  man  named 
Wood  to  coin  copper  money  in  Ireland.  His 
*' Drapier's  Letters  "  which  were  written  on  this 
subject,  obtained  deserved  celebrity  at  the  time  ; 
and  the  spirit  of  resistance  which  he  aroused 
succeeded  in  defeating  the  object  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Q.    When  did  George  the  First  die  ? 

A.   In  1727. 

12 


134  CATECHISxM   OF   THE 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

The  Reign  of  George  the  Second. 

Q.  What  steps  did  the  Catholics  take  on  the 
accession  of  George  the  Second  ? 

A.  The  nobility  and  gentry  determined  to  pre- 
sent a  loyal  address  to  him. 

Q.    Was  their  address  presented  ? 

A.  No;  it  was  suppressed  by  the  influence 
of  Boulter,  the  Protestant  primate,  because  he 
deemed  it  inconsistent  with  law  that  there  should 
be  any  recognition  of  the  existence  of  the  Irish 
Catholics  as  a  body  in  the  state. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish  house  of  commons  protect 
the  nation's  purse  in  this  reign? 

A.  Yes ;  in  1731  the  government  tried  to  get 
a  grant  of  the  supplies  for  twenty-one  years; 
but  the  iniquitous  effort  was  foiled  by  the  com- 
mons. 

Q.    What  was  the  Agistment  Act  ? 

A.  An  act  passed  in  1735,  by  which  all  pas- 
ture lands  were  exempted  from  tithe,  or  mo- 
dus for  tithe ;  and  the  Protestant  clergy  were 
only  permitted  to  claim  the  tithe  of  tillage  and 
meadow. 

Q.  Who  was  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  in 
1745? 

A.    The  celebrated  earl  of  Chesterfield. 

Q.    Was  he  a  judicious  viceroy  ? 

A.  Yes;  he  discouraged  informers  again.st 
"  Papists;"  and  conciliated  the  people  of  Ireland 
by  mitigating  the  severities  of  the  existing  laws, 
so  far  as  a  mild  administration  could  mitigate 
them. 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  135 

Q.  Were  there  not,  however,  two  new  penal 
laws  passed  during  his  viceroy alty? 

A.  Yes;  one  of  these  laws  dissolved  all  mar- 
riages between  Protestants  and  Papists  ;  the  other 
inflicted  the  penalty  of  death  on  every  Catholic 
priest  who  should  marry  two  Protestants,  or  a 
Protestant  and  Papist. 

Q.  In  what  year  did  Chesterfield  leave  Ire- 
land ? 

.4.   In  1747. 

Q.  Who  then  acquired  a  leading  power  in  the 
Irish  government  ? 

A.  The  Protestant  primate.  Dr.  Stone ;  who, 
like  his  predecessor.  Boulter,  was  an  English- 
man. 

Q.    What  was  Stone's  policy  ? 

A.  He  converted  his  house  into  a  brothel,  to 
win  the  support  of  the  younger  members  of 
parliament  to  his  measures,  by  pandering  to  their 
vices. 

Q.    What  event  occurred  in  1759? 

A.  Carrickfergus  was  seized  by  a  small 
French  force  under  the  command  of  Thurot ; 
who,  however,  soon  retired  when  he  found  that 
he  was  not  sustained  by  the  Catholic  inhabit- 
ants. 

Q.  What  important  legislative  measure  was 
contemplated  in  that  year? 

A.  Ministers  projected  a  legislative  Union  be- 
tween Ireland  and  Encrland. 

Q.    Did  the  scheme  succeed  ? 

A.  No;  it  was  abandoned  for  the  time.  The 
people  of  Dublin  were  indignant  at  the  design. 
They  rushed  into  the  house  of  lords,  and  com- 
pelled such  members  of  both  houses  as  they 
met,    to   take     an    oath    that    they    never    would 


136  CATECHISM   OF  THE 

consent   to   the   destruction   of  the   Irish   parlia- 
ment. 

Q.    Tn  what  year  did  George  the  Second  die  ? 

A.   In  1760. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

Hie  Reign  of  George  the   Third. 

Q.  What  change  occurred  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Irish  parliament  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
reign  of  George  the  Third  .' 

A.  The  members  of  the  house  of  commons 
had  previously  sat  for  life;  but  in  176S,  they 
shortened  the  duration  of  each  parliament  to  eight 
years. 

Q.    Who  was  at  that  time  lord  lieutenant  ? 

A.   Lord  Townshend. 

Q.  What  dispute  arose  between  the  court  and 
the  house  of  commons  ? 

A.  A  money-bill  had  been  prepared  in  Eng- 
land, and  was  submitted  to  the  house  of  com- 
mons by  the  Irish  minister ;  but  the  commons 
threw  out  the  bill,  because  it  had  not  originated 
with  themselves. 

Q.  Did  Lord  Townshend  protest  against  the 
rejection  of  the  bill  by  the  commons? 

A.  He  did  ;  but  the  house  refused  to  enter  his 
protest  on  their  journals. 

Q.  In  what  year  did  the  American  colonies 
revolt  from  England  ? 

A.   In  1776. 

Q.  What  effect  had  the  assertion  of  American 
independence  on  the  Irish  people  ? 

A.   It  stimulated  them,  by  example,  to    assert 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  137 

the  freedom  of  their  trade  and  the  independence 
of  their  parliament. 

Q.  Did  it  furnish  them  with  any  facilities  for 
this  purpose  ] 

A.  Yes  ;  by  embarrassing  England,  which  was 
then  euffacred  in  a  war  against  the  American  states, 
and  could  not  spare  troops  to  overawe  the  Irish ; 
for  the  period  of  England's  difficulty  and  dis- 
tress has  ever  been  the  period  the  most  favorable 
to  Irish  freedom.  Encrland's  extremity  has  al- 
ways  been  Ireland's  opportunity. 

Q.    Who  were  the  Irish  volunteers  ? 

A.  They  were  an  army  of  citizen-soldiers  who 
rose  up  to  defend  their  country,  which,  in  1778, 
was  threatened  with  a  French  invasion. 

Q.  Vy^here  did  the  enrolment  of  this  citizen- 
army  originate  ? 

A.  In  Belfast.  The  people  of  that  town  had 
requested  the  government  to  send  them  a  garrison. 

Q.    What  was  the  answer  of  the  government  ? 

A.  That  they  could  not  spare  them  more  than 
half  a  troop  of  dismounted  cavalry,  and  half  a 
company  of  invalids. 

Q.  When  the  Belfast  volunteers  formed  them- 
selves into  a  corns  for  the  national  defence,  was 
their  example  speedily  followed  by  the  other  towns 
throughout  the  kingdom  ? 

A.  Yes ;  so  speedily,  that,  within  a  few  months, 
the  volunteer  army  of  Ireland  amounted  to  42,000 
stroncr. 

Q.  What  were  the  proceedings  of  the  Irish 
parliament  1 

A.  When  the  houses  of  parliament  found  them- 
selves sustained  by  so  powerful  an  army,  they 
unanimously  voted  an  address  to  the  viceroy,  de- 
claring  that  the  nation  could  only  be  preserved 

12* 


133  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

from  ruin  by  a  free  trade.  They  also  voted  resolu- 
tions of  thanks  to  the  different  volunteer  com- 
panies for  their  spirited  patriotism. 

Q.  In  what  year  was  free  trade  carried  by  the 
Irish  legislature  1 

A,    In  1779. 

Q.  What  was  the  celebrated  resolution  of  the 
Dublin  volunteers,  presided  over  by  the  duke  of 
Leinster,  in  1780? 

A.  "  Resolved,  that  the  king,  lords,  and  com- 
mons, of  Ireland,  only,  were  competent  to  make 
laws  binding  the  subjects  of  this  realm  ;  and  that 
they  would  not  obey,  nor  give  operation  to  any 
laws  save  only  those  enacted  by  the  king,  lords,  and 
commons,  of  Ireland  —  whose  rights  and  privileges, 
jointly  and  severally,  they  were  determined  to  sup- 
port with  their  lives  and  fortunes." 

Q.  Who  were  the  principal  leaders  of  the 
movement  in  favor  of  free  trade,  and  a  free  parlia- 
ment, for  Ireland? 

A.  Henry  Grattan,  the  duke  of  Leinster,  the 
earl  of  Charlemont,  Henry  Flood,  and  several 
others.  Grattan  moved,  and  carried  throusfh  the 
house  of  commons,  in  1782,  a  Declaration  of 
Rights,  exactly  identical  in  matter,  and  nearly  so 
in  words,  with  the  resolution  of  the  Dublin  volun- 
teers already  quoted. 

Q.    Where  did  the  volunteer  convention  meet  ? 

A.  At  Dungannon,  in  February,  1782 ;  and 
the  bold  and  determined  tone  adopted  by  that 
body  encouraged  the  patriots  in  parliament,  and 
overawed  the  court  party  into  acquiescence. 

Q.  How  did  the  parliament  testify  its  gratitude 
to  Grattan,  for  his  triumphant  exertions  to  obtain 
legislative  independence  for  Ireland  ? 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  139 

A.  The  house  of  commons  voted  him  a  grant 
of  fifty  thousand  pounds. 

Q.  What  was  the  next  money-vote  of  the  Irish 
commons? 

A.  They  voted  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
to  raise  seamen  for  the  service  of  England  ;  thus 
giving  a  proof  of  the  readiness  of  Ireland  to  assist 
the  sister  country,  when  exempt  from  the  operation 
of  British  injustice. 

Q.  Of  what  religion  were  the  leaders  of  the 
glorious  movement  of  1779-82  1 

A.  They  were  Protestants.  Some  of  them  were 
descendants  of  the  Cromwellian  settlers;  and  their 
conduct  demonstrates  that  the  Protestant  heart 
can  warm  to  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom  and  pros- 
perity, when  uninfluenced  by  the  visionary  fears 
conjured  up  by  designing  bigots. 

Q.  What  was  the  result  of  the  commercial  and 
constitutional  victory  obtained  by  the  patriots  ? 

A.  Increase  of  trade,  manufacture,  and  general 
prosperity,  to  an  extent  unparalleled  in  the  an- 
nals of  any  other  nation  within  so  short  a  period. 

Q.  Did  the  Catholics  obtain  any  relaxation  of 
their  grievances  ? 

A.  Yes;  in  1782,  the  penal  laws  regarding 
property  were  all  repealed,  and  the  Catholics  were 
placed  on  a  level  with  Protestants  as  far  as  re- 
garded the  acquisition  of  land  in  freehold  or  in 
absolute  fee. 

Q.  What  great  fault  existed  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Irish  parliament  ? 

A.  The  areat  number  of  small  boroucrhs,  which 
were  under  the  absolute  influence  of  private  indi- 
viduals, and  entirely  beyond  the  control  of  the 
people.  The  members  nominated  by  these  bor- 
oughs, at  the  dictation  of  their  several   patrons, 


140  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

composed  fully  two  thirds  of  the  house,  and  were 
necessarily  more  liable  to  be  corrupted  by  the 
court  than  genuine  representatives  of  the  people 
could  have  been. 

Q.  Were  any  efforts  made  to  procure  a  reform 
of  the  parliament  ? 

A.  Yes;  in  1783,  Mr.  Flood  introduced  a  bill 
for  that  purpose  into  the  commons.  But  it  was 
rejected,  through  a  copious  application  of  court 
influence. 

Q.  What  instance  of  English  perfidy  was  ex- 
hibited in  1785? 

A.  The  Irish  commons  had  granted  the  min- 
ister  new  taxes  to  the  amount  =€140,000,  on  the 
faith  of  his  concedincr  to  Ireland  certain  commer- 
cial  advantages  known  as  "  the  eleven  proposi- 
tions." The  minister  took  the  taxes,  but,  instead 
of  conceding  "the  eleven  propositions,"  he  intro- 
duced a  code  of  "  twenty  propositions,"  injurious 
to  Irish  commerce,  which  had  been  suggested  by 
the  leadinor  English  merchants. 

Q.  W^hat  was  the  fate  of  the  twenty  English 
propositions  ? 

A.  They  encountered  a  powerful  resistance  in 
the  Irish  house  of  commons.  The  government 
were  only  able  to  muster  a  majority  of  nineteen  in 
a  very  crowded  house ;  and  as  there  appeared 
every  likelihood  that  this  small  support  would  be 
discontinued,  the  court  withdrew  the  obnoxious 
measure,  and  the  people  exhibited  their  delight 
by  extraordinary  rejoicings  and  illuminations. 

Q.    What  remarkable  event  occuired  in  1789? 

A.  The  kincr  became  insane:  and  the  British 
and  Irish  parliaments  concurred  in  appointing  the 
prince  of  Wales  regent  during  his  majesty's 
incapacity.     The  British  parliament  fettered  the 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  141 

regent  in  the  exercise  of  the  royal  authority,  but 
the  Irish  legislature  invested  him  with  unlimited 
powers.  The  king,  however,  unexpectedly  re- 
covered, and  resumed  the  exercise  of  the  execu- 
tive functions. 

Q.  How  did  successive  administrations  in  Ire- 
land thenceforward  employ  themselves  ? 

A.  In  augmented  efforts  to  corrupt  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Irish  legislature. 

o 

Q.  To  what  cause  do  you  attribute  the  amount 
of  success  that  attended  those  efforts  of  corrup- 
tion ? 

A.  To  the  fact  that  the  Irish  parliament  was 
unreformed;  that  it  was  not  sufficiently  under  the 
wholesome  control  of  the  people. 

Q.  In  what  year  was  the  elective  franchise 
conceded  to  the  Catholics? 

A.    In  1793. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Reign  of  George  the   Third  continued. 

Q.  What  was  the  greatest  crime  the  English 
government  ever  committed  against  Ireland  1 

A.  The  destruction  of  the  Irish  parliament,  by 
the  measure  called  the  legislative  Union. 

Q.  How  did  the  government  achieve  that 
measure  ? 

A.  By  goading  a  large  portion  of  the  people 
of  Ireland  into  a  premature  rebellion,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  vast  effusion  of  blood  ;  and  then,  by 
taking  advantage  of  the  national  weakness,  con- 
fusion, and  terror,  thus  created,   to  overawe  the 


142  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

people  with  137,000  soldiers,  and  to  bribe  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  parliament  to  vote  for  the 
Union. 

Q.  What  steps  were  taken  to  goad  the  people 
to  take  up  arms  ? 

A.  In  1795  their  hopes  were  excited  by  the 
arrival  of  a  popular  and  liberal  nobleman,  Ear] 
Fitzwilliam,  who  came  here  as  viceroy,  with  full 
powers,  as  was  currently  believed,  to  carry  eman- 
cipation. After  a  few  months,  however,  he  was 
suddenly  recalled,  and  a  totally  opposite  policy 
was  pursued  under  the  auspices  of  his  successor, 
Earl  Camden. 

Q.  State  some  of  the  cruelties  practised  on  the 
Catholics  at  that  period. 

A.  "  A  persecution,  accompanied  with  all  the 
circumstances  of  ferocious  cruelty,  then  raged  in 
the  country.  Neither  age  nor  sex,  nor  even  ac- 
knowledged innocence,  could  excite  mercy.  The 
only  crime  with  which  the  wretched  objects  were 
charged,  was  the  profession  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic faith.  A  lawless  banditti  constituted  them- 
selves judges  of  this  new  delinquency,  and  the 
sentence  they  pronounced  was  equally  concise 
and  terrible.  It  was  nothing  less  than  confisca- 
tion  of  property,  and  immediate  banishment." 

Q.    Whose  words  have  you  now  repeated  ? 

A.  The  words  of  Lord  Gosford,  a  Protestant 
nobleman,  in  his  address  to  the  magistracy  of 
Armagh,  printed  in  the  Dublin  Journal,  5th  Jan- 
uary, 1796. 

Q.  Does  Lord  Gosford  say  that  any  of  the 
armed  Orange  perpetrators  of  that  persecution 
were  punished  for  their  crimes  ? 

A.   No;  on  the  contrary  he  expressly  says,  in 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAIND.  143 

the  same  address,  "  These  horrors  are  now  acting 
with  impunity.'^ 

Q.  What  other  particulars  of  cruelty  against 
the  Catholic  people  are  stated  by  Lord  Moira  ? 

^4.  Lord  Moira,  in  his  speech  in  the  British 
house  of  lords,  on  the  2*2d  of  November,  1797, 
uses  these  words :  "  I  have  known  a  man,  in 
order  to  extort  confession  of  a  supposed  crime,  or 
of  that  of  some  neighbor,  picketed  till  he  actually 
fainted  ;  picketed  a  second  time  till  he  fainted 
again  ;  and  when  he  came  to  himself  picketed  a 
third  time  till  he  once  more  fainted,  and  all  this 
upon  mere  suspicion." 

Q.  Does  Lord  Moira  state  any  other  parti- 
culars ? 

^4.  Yes:  he  says  that  *' men  had  been  taken 
and  hung  up  till  they  were  half  dead,  and  after- 
wards threatened  with  a  repetition  of  this  treat- 
ment, unless  they  made  a  confession  of  their 
imputed  guilt." 

Q.    What  important  fact  does  Lord  Moira  add  ? 

A.  He  expressly  says  that  "  these  were  not 
particular  acts  of  cruelty,  but  formed  part  of  the 
netv  system." 

Q.    What  was  the  outrage  at  Carnew? 

A.  Twenty-eight  men  were  brought  out  and 
deliberately  murdered  by  the  Orange  yeomen  and 
a  party  of  the  Antrim  militia,  on  the  25th  of 
May,  1798. 

Q.  How  many  men  were  shot  without  trial  at 
Dunlavin? 

A.    Thirty-four. 

Q.  What  tortures  were  familiarly  practised  by 
the  yeomanry  and  soldiery  against  the  people? 

A.  Whipping,  half-hanging,  picketing ;  the 
hair  of  some  of  the  victims  was  cut  in  the  form 


144  CATECHISM    OF    THE 

of  a  cross  on  the  crowns  of  their  heads,  and  the 
hollow  thus  formed  strown  with  gunpowder,  which 
was  set  fire  to,  and  the  process  repeated  till  the 
sufferers  fainted.  There  was  also  the  torture  of  the 
pitch-cap,  which  consisted  in  applying  a  cap 
smeared  with  hot  pitch  to  the  shorn  head  of  "  a 
croppy,"  and  dragging  it  forcibly  off  when  the 
pitch  hardened.  The  flesh  was  thus  torn  from 
the  victim's  head,  and  blinding  was  added  to  his 
other  sufferings,  as  the  melted  pitch  streamed 
down  his  forehead  into  his  eyes.  The  cabins  of 
the  peasantry  were  burned,  their  sons  tortured  or 
murdered,  and  their  daughters,  in  many  instances, 
brutally  violated  by  the  armed  demons  whom  the 
English  government  poured  into  the  country. 

Q.  When  did  the  people  of  Ireland,  thus 
goaded  to  rise  against  the  government,  take  the 
field  against  their  oppressors  ? 

A.  The  Kildare  and  Carlow  peasantry  com- 
menced the  insurrection  on  the  23d  of  May,  1798. 

Q.    How  were  they  armed? 

A.  Wretchedly.  Bad  guns  and  pikes  were 
their  only  weapons,  and  they  had  little  or  no 
discipline.  Engagements  took  place  with  the 
royalists  at  Naas,  Kilcullen,  Carlow,  (at  all  which 
towns  the  insurgents  were  defeated;)  Oulart  Hill, 
(where  the  insurgents  were  victorious;)  Ennis- 
corthy  and  Wexford,  both  which  towns  were  taken 
by  the  insurgents ;  Newtownbarry  and  New  Ross. 

Q.  Did  the  insurgents  sully  their  cause  with 
cruelties  ? 

A.  Unhappily  some  of  them  committed  out- 
rages, in  the  heat  and  turmoil  of  warfare,  which  we 
cannot  regard  without  horror ;  such,  for  instance, 
as  the  burning  of  a  number  of  royalist  Catholics 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  14^ 

and  Protestants  in  the  barn  of  Scullabogue,  in  the 
county  Wexford. 

Q.  What  excuse  was  pleaded  by  the  perpe- 
trators of  tliat  crime  1 

A.  The  massacres  committed  by  the  yeomanry 
at  Carnew  and  Dunlavin.  Horrible  as  was  the 
conduct  of  the  insurgents  in  the  instance  alJuded 
to,  it  must  however  be  owned,  that  a  crime  com- 
mitted during  the  exasperation  of  a  provoked 
rebellion  falls  far  short,  in  point  of  demoniac 
atrocity,  of  the  systematic  outrages  on  property, 
liberty,  and  life,  which  the  government  had  deli- 
berately sanctioned  and  encouraged  by  impunity 
for  ye:irs ;  and  which,  in  fact,  had  at  last  stung  the 
maddened  people  to  resist  their  tyrants. 

Q.  At  what  other  pi  ices  were  there  engage- 
ments between  the  insurgents  and  the  royalists  ? 

A.  At  Arklow,  where  the  royalists,  under 
Colonel  Skerrett,  gained  a  victory ;  at  Ballyna- 
hincli,  where  the  rebels  gained  advantages,  by 
their  valor,  which  t!iey  lost  by  their  total  want  of 
discipline;  and  at  Vinegar  Hill,  where  they  were 
totally  routed  by  the  superior  numbers,  arms,  and 
discipline,  of  the  royal  forces. 

Q.  Could  the  government  have  prevented  the 
hideous  and  sanguinary  outrages,  and  the  awful 
waste  of  human  life,  which  marked  the  civil  war 
of  1T9S?  Did  they  possess  sufficient  information 
of  the  rebel  plans  to  enable  them  to  avert  the 
explosion  of  tlie  rebellion  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  they  had  in  their  pay  a  spy  in  the  camp 
of  the  insurgents,  named  M'Guane,who  was  one  of 
the  colonels  of  the  United  Irishmen.  This  man 
gave  the  government  constant  and  minute  informa- 
tion of  every  plan  and  every  movement  contem- 
plated by  the  United  Irishcaeu,  for  fully  ten  mouths 

13 


146  CATECH1S3I    OF    THE 

before  the  insurrection  exploded ;  so  that,  at  any 
moment  during  those  ten  months,  the  government 
couJd  have  crushed  the  rebellion  with  the  utmost 
ease,  by  the  simple  act  of  arresting  the  leaders. 

Q.    Who  were  the  leaders  ? 

A.  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  son  of  the  Duke 
of  Leinster;  Beauchamp  Bagenal  Harvey,  a  Prot- 
estant gentleman  of  ancient  family  and  good 
estate;  Arthur  O'Connor  of  Connorville,  county 
Cork;  Neilson ;  M'Nevin,  and  a  long  list  of 
others,  —  being  about  45  in  all,  of  whom  nearly  the 
entire  were  Protestants, 

Q.  Why  did  not  the  government  quietly  crush 
the  rebellion  in  its  infancy,  or  rather  prevent  its 
explosion,  and  thus  avert  the  horrible  destruction 
of  human  life? 

A.  Because  its  object  was  to  carry  the  legisla- 
tive Union  ;  and  that  could  not  be  done  unless  the 
country  were  first  thoroughly  exhausted  by  the 
paralyzing  influences  of  terror  and  mutual  distrust 
among  its  inhabitants,  and  thereby  rendered  inca- 
pable of  resisting  the  destruction  of  its  parliament. 

Q.  Did  the  gentry  and  people  make  any  efforts 
to  preserve  their  parliament? 

A.  They  did  ;  their  efforts  were  astonishing, 
when  we  reflect  that  the  country  was  under 
martial  lav\',  and  was  occupied  by  an  adverse  array 
137,000  strong.  They  signed  petitions  against 
the  Union,  to  the  number  of  707,000  signatures; 
whilst  all  the  signatures  the  government  could 
obtain  in  favor  of  the  measure  amounted  to  no 
more  than  about  3000; — though  schools  were 
canvassed  for  the  names  of  their  pupils,  and  jails 
raked  for  the  names  of  criminals. 

Q.  When  was  the  question  of  Union  first 
broirght  before  the  Irish  parliament? 


HISTOiiY    UF    IRELAND.  147 

A.  In  1799.  It  was  rejected  that  year  by  a 
majority  of  the  Irish  house  of  commons. 

Q.  What  was  the  conduct  of  Pitt,  and  his  Irish 
colleaorue,  Castlerea^h,  on  this  defeat? 

A.  They  redoubled  their  efforts  to  bribe  the 
Irish  members  during  the  recess.  Peerages, 
bishopricks,  seats  on  the  beuch,  commands  in  the 
army  and  navy,  were  familiarly  given  in  exchange 
for  votes  for  the  Union.  One  million  and  a  h.jlf 
sterling  was  distributed  in  money-bribes.  There 
was  in  the  lower  house  a  vast  preponderance  of 
borough  members,  who  were  peculiarly  accessible 
to  the  tempter  ;  of  these  there  were  no  le:ss  than 
liG  placemen  and  pensioners  in  immediate  de- 
pendence on  the  government.  Several  members, 
who  could  not  brincr  themselves  to  vote  for  the 
destruction  of  their  native  lecrislature,  vet  vacated 
their  seats  for  the  admission  of  Englishmen  and 
Scotchmen,  who  readily  voted  away  a  parliament 
in  the  continuance  of  which  they  had  no  sort  of 
interest. 

Q.  When  did  that  act  of  national  degradation 
and  disaster,  the  legislative  Union,  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  bribed  parliament? 

A.  In  1800 ;  and  it  came  into  operation  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1801. 

Q.  What  members  particularly  distinguished 
themselves  iu  opposition  to  it  ? 

A.  Grattan,  Plunket,  Bushe,  Saurin,  Foster 
(the  speaker),  Ponsonby,  and  Jebb. 

Q.  What  Vv'as  the  motive  which  stimulated  the 
English  government  (o  commit  so  enormous  a 
crime  against  Ireland  as  the  destruction,  by  such 
means,  of  the  Irish  parliament? 

A.  In  the  words  of  Charles  Kendal  Bushe,  the 
motive  of  the  government   was  '*  an    intolerance 

13* 


148  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

of  Irish  prosperity."  They  hated  Ireland  with 
intense  fierceness,  from  ancient  national  preju- 
dice. Pitt  also  had  his  own  peculiar  quarrel 
with  the  Irish  parliament  from  its  opposition 
to  his  views  on  the  regency  question,  in  1789; 
and  the  growth  of  Ireland  in  happiness,  in  great- 
ness, in  prosperity,  in  domestic  harmony,  and  con- 
sequent strength,  was  altogether  insupportable  to 
our  jealous  English  foes;  who,  accordingly,  were 
reckless  in  the  means  they  used  to  deprive  this 
country  of  the  power,  which  self-legislation  alone 
can  afford,  of  fully  promoting  its  own  interests 
and  unfoldinor  its  own  resources. 

Q.  What  have  been  the  consequences  of  the 
Union  ? 

A.  The  destruction  of  numerous  branches  of 
Iri-h  trade  and  manufactures;  an  enormous  in- 
crease of  tlie  drain  of  absentee  rents,  which 
now  exceed  four  millions  a  year;  the  drain  of 
surplus  taxes  to  the  amount  of  between  one  and 
two  millions  annu;illy ;  the  alienation  from  Ire- 
land of  the  affections  of  the  gentry,  whom  in- 
tercourse with  dominant  England  infects  with  a 
contempt  for  their  native  land ;  the  scornful 
refusal  of  Irish  rights;  —  all  which  evils  are  the 
natural  consequences  of  our  being  governed  by 
a  foreign  parliament,  whose  members  regard  with 
apathy  at  best,  and  too  often  with  contempt- 
uous hostility,  the  country  thus  surrendered  to 
their  control. 

Q.  What  is  the  duty  of  all  Irishmen  with  re- 
gard to  the  Union  ? 

A.  To  get  rid  of  it  as  fast  as  they  can  —  by  all 
legal,  peaceful,  and  constitutional  means. 

Q.  What  were  the  principal  measures  affect- 
ing  Ireland   passed    by  the    imperial    parliament 


HISTORY    OF   IRELAND.  149 

during  the  rest  of  the  reign  of  George  the 
Third  ? 

A.  Chiefly  insurrection  acts  and  suspensions 
of  the  habeas  corpus,  to  put  down  the  disturb- 
ances to  which  oppression  incited  the  people. 

Q-    Was  there  any  fiscal  measure  passed  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  the  Irish  exchequer  was  consolidated 
with  that  of  England  in  1816. 

Q.    What  was  the  result  of  this  consolidation? 

A.  To  give  the  English  minister  more  complete 
control  over  the  taxation  of  Ireland,  and  in  gen- 
eral over  all  her  fiscal  resources. 

Q.  What  part  did  the  Irish  soldiery  bear  in 
the  wars  of  the  allied  sovereigns  against  Bona- 
parte  ? 

^4.  They  fought  with  national  bravery  for  their 
old  oppressor,  England,  in  all  her  campaigns;  and 
materially  contributed  to  the  victory  of  Waterloo, 
in  1S14. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  George  the  Third  die  ? 

A.    In  1S20. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

The  Reigns  of  George  the  Fourth  and  William 

the  Fourth. 

Q.    What  notable  event  occurred  in  1821  ? 

A.    George  the  Fourth  came  to  Ireland,  where 
he  spent  three  w^eeUs  in  idle  pageantry. 

Q.    What  was  the  political  object  of  his  visit? 

A.    To  delude  the  Catholics  with  empty  civili- 
ties in  place  of  substantial  concessions. 

13  t 


150  CATECHISM    OF   THE 

Q.   Were  the  Catholics  thus  deluded  ? 

A.  No ;  Daniel  O'Connell,  a  Catholic  barris- 
ter of  high  eminence,  assumed  the  leadership  of 
his  fellow-religionists.  He  founded  the  Catholic 
Association  —  which  originally  consisted  of  only 
seven  members,  but  soon  embraced  within  its 
circle  all  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
in  the  empire. 

Q.    Was  the  Catholic  Association  successful  ? 

A.  Yes ;  it  combined  and  organized  the  peo- 
ple so  extensively  and  so  powerfully,  that  their 
efforts  became  irresistible ;  and  O'Connell's  ex- 
periment of  working  out  a  great  political  chancre, 
by  appeals  to  public  opinion  alone,  had  a  signal 
triumph. 

Q.    When  was  emancipation  conceded  ? 

A.    In  April,  1829. 

Q.  Who  were  the  leaders  of  the  measure  in 
the  English  parliament  ? 

A.  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  the  commons,  and  the 
duke  of  Wellinofton  in  the  lords. 

Q.  What  declarations  did  those  statesmen 
make? 

A.  That  their  old  opinions  (which  were  ad- 
verse to  the  measure)  were  unchanged  ;  but  that 
they  deemed  it  expedient  to  grant  it  rather  than 
risk  a  civil  war. 

Q.  What  offices  and  places  did  emancipation 
throw  open  to  the  Catholics  ? 

A.  All  offices  in  the  state  excepting  only  the 
throne,  the  viceroyalty  of  Ireland,  and  the  office 
of  lord  chancellor  in  both  countries. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  George  the  Fourth  die  ? 

A.   In  1830,  aged  68. 

Q.  What  events  took  place  in  Ireland  in  the 
reign  of  William  the  Fourth  ? 


HISTORY   OF   IRELAND.  1^1 

A.  In  1832  there  was  a  resistance,  almost 
universal,  to  the  tithe  system.  Cattle,  corn,  or 
goods,  distrained  for  tithe,  could  find  no  purchas- 
ers; and  the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church 
were  involved  in  litigation  with  their  parishioners 
all  over  the  kingdom. 

Q.  Were  other  weapons  than  those  of  the 
law  made  use  of  to  enforce  the  payment  of 
tithe  ? 

A.  Yes;  the  clergy  obtained  the  assistance 
of  the  military  to  distrain  the  property  of  the 
people,  and  to  overawe  them  into  obedience. 
Scenes  ludicrous  as  well  as  deplorable  occurred. 
A  regiment  of  hussars  was  emploved  in  drivino- 
a  tlock  of  twelve  geese  in  the  county  of  Kil- 
kenny. At  Newtownbarry,  Castlepollard,  Car- 
rickshock,  Tnniscarra,  and  some  other  places,  there 
were  sanguinary  atfrays  between  the  soldiers  and 
the  people. 

Q.  What  occurred  at  Gurtroe,  near  Rathcor- 
mac,  in  the  county  of  Cork  ? 

A.  Archdeacon  Ryder  brought  a  party  of 
the  military  to  recover  the  tithe  of  a  farm 
held  by  a  family  named  Ryan.  The  Ryans, 
who  were  Catholics,  resisted  the  payment  of 
tithe  to  a  Protestant  pastor,  from  whom  they, 
of  course,  derived  no  spiritual  benefit.  The 
order  to  fire  on  the  people  was  given  to  the  mili- 
tary ;  and  thirteen  persons  were  wounded,  and 
eight  killed,  in  the  presence  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ryder.  He  was  then  paid  his  tithe  by  Mrs. 
Ryan,  whose  son  was  shot  before  her  eyes. 

Q.  What  changes  did  parliament  make  in  the 
tithe  system  ? 

A.  It  struck  off  one  fourth  of  the  tithes,  and 
made  the  landlords,  instead  of  the  occupying  ten- 


152  CATECHISM   OF   THE 

ants,  liable  to  the  Established  clergy  for  the  re- 
maininor  three  fourths. 

Q.    Was  this  a  relief  to  the  tenantry  ? 

A.  To  the  extent  of  one  fourth  of  the  tithes,  it 
was,  doubtless,  a  relief  With  respect  to  the  other 
three  fourths,  as  the  landlords  are  liable  to  pay 
them  to  the  clergy,  they,  of  course,  take  care  to 
exact  them,  under  the  name  of  rent,  from  their 
tenantry. 

Q.  Was  a  reform  of  the  house  of  commons 
carried  in  this  rei^n  ? 

A.    Yes. 

Q.    How  far  did  that  reform  affect  Ireland  ? 

A.  Ireland  got  five  additional  members.  She 
had  previously  sent  100  representatives  to  the  im- 
perial Parliament. 

Q.  Did  the  Irish,  in  1832,  make  any  efforts  to 
obtain  a  repeal  of  the  Union  ? 

A.  Yes ;  and  about  forty  members  were  re- 
turned at  the  general  election  in  that  year  pledged 
to  support  the  repeal.  Only  that  the  elective 
franchise  was  unjustly  withheld  from  the  people, 
nearly  all  the  constituencies  would  have  returned 
repealers. 

Q.  What  measure  did  the  first  reformed  parlia- 
ment enact  against  Ireland,  in  1833  1 

A.  A  coercion  act  was  passed,  laying  restric- 
tions on  the  right  of  the  Irish  people  to  meet  and 
petition  the  legislature.  The  object  of  this  act 
was  to  crush  the  movement  for  repeal  ;  w  hich  na- 
tional measure  was  denounced  in  a  foolish  and 
ferocious  speech  delivered  by  the  king  on  opening 
the  session. 

Q.  How  did  Mr.  O'Connell,  in  his  place  in  par- 
liament, designate  the  king's  speech? 

A,    He  called  it  "  a  brutal  and  a  bloody  speech." 


HISTORY    OF    IRE^^AND.  153 

Q.  Was  repeal  brought  before  the  British  house 
of  commous  ? 

A.  Yes;  by  O'Connell,  in  1834.  He  was  op- 
posed by  Spring  Rice,  who  attempted  to  show  tlial 
Irel md  had  been  improved  by  the  destruction  of 
her  parliament ;  and  as  Mr.  Rice's  paradox  was 
congenial  to  the  prejudices  of  his  audience, 
O'Conniili's  motion  was  defeated,  fur  the  time,  by 
an  immense  majority. 

Q.    Did  that  defeat  discourage  the  Irish  people? 

A.  Not  in  the  least.  They  knew  their  c  uise 
was  just  and  righteous,  and  they  determined  to 
wait,  and   work,   and  watch  their  opportunity. 

Q.   What  was  O'ConnelFs  p  irliamentary  policy  ? 

A.  To  act  as  if  he  placed  faith  in  the  conjoint 
promise  made  by  the  king,  lords,  and  commons, 
in  rejecting  his  motion  for  repeal.  They  had 
solemnly  promised  to  remove  all  the  grievances  of 
Ireland  ;  and  accordin^lv  O'Connell,  for  the  next 
six  years,  occupied  himself  in  the  experiment  of 
extorting  a  fiilhlinent  of  that  solemn  pledge  from 
the  British  legislature. 

Q.    In  what  year  did  William  the  Fourth  die  ? 

A.    In  1837. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

The  Reign  of  Queen   Victoria. 

Q.  What  was  the  policy  of  the  national  party 
in  Ireland  for  the  first  three  years  of  this  reign  ? 

A.  They  continued  to  pursue  the  experiment 
of  trying  what  amount  of  justice  was  to  be  ob- 
tained from  the  imperial  parliament. 

Q.    What  was  the  result  of  their  experiment  ? 


154  CATECHISM    or    THE 

A.  Increased  evidence  of  the  hostility  of  that 
parliament  to  Ireland ;  and  of  the  paramount 
necessity  of  obtaining  a  free,  popular  Irish  legis- 
lature. 

Q.    What  important  event  occurred  in  1840  1 

A.  The  Loyal  National  Repeal  Association  was 
founded  by  O'Connell  in  that  year,  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  a  repeal  of  the  Union. 

Q.  Did  the  agitation  for  repeal  extend  itself 
quickly  over  the  kingdom  ? 

A.  Yes ;  as  soon  as  O'Conneli's  perseverance 
had  finally  convinced  the  people  that  he  was 
thoroughly  tesolved  to  fight  out  the  peaceful  battle 
to  the  last,  and  not  to  use  the  repeal-cry  as  a  mere 
instrument  to  obtain  other  measures. 

Q.  What  efforts  did  the  government  make  to 
preserve  the  Union  ? 

A.  Efforts  quite  in  character  with  those  which 
Pitt's  government  had  made  use  of  to  carry  it,  in 
1800.  They  deemed  that,  as  it  had  been  originally 
achieved  by  bribery  and  terror,  it  could  best  be 
preserved  by  the  same  means.  Accordingly,  Lord 
Fortescue,  the  Whig  lord  lieutenant  in  1841,  an- 
nounced that  anti-repealers  only  should  be  admitted 
to  any  place  or  office  in  the  gift  of  the  government; 
and  in  1843,  troops  were  poured  into  the  country, 
and  state  prosecutions  instituted  against  nine  of 
the  leaders,  in  the  hope  that  the  display  of  military 
power,  conjoined  with  the  harassing  prosecution 
of  the  legal  proceedings,  might  terrify  the  people 
from  seeking;  their  national  rights. 

Q.  What  military  struggle  occurred  in  the 
English  colonies  in  1841-2  ? 

A.  England  was  engaged  in  the  attempt  to 
extend  and  consolidate  her  Indian  empire ;  and 
Irish  soldiers,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  fought  and 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  155 

bled  in  the  contest.     The  44th  reffiment,  consist- 
ing  entirely  of  Irish,  was  totally  destroyed. 

Q.  Of  what  use  were  Enojland's  Indian  ccn- 
quests  to  Ireland  ? 

A.  Of  no  use  whatever.  Ireland  had  no  inter- 
est whatsoever  hi  the  event  of  the  strugrcrle. 

Q.  Did  the  English  ministry  enlist  Queen 
Victoria's  influence  against  the  repealers  of 
Ireland  ? 

A.  They  did  ;  and  a  speech,  denouncing  re- 
peal, was  composed  for  the  queen,  which  her 
majesty  read  from  the  throne  at  the  close  of  the 
session  of  1843.  The  ministry  hoped  that  the 
well-known  loyalty  of  the  Irish  people  would  in- 
duce them  to  abandon  a  measure  distasteful  to 
their  beloved  monarch. 

Q.  What  effect  had  this  ministerial  manoeuvre 
on  the  national  policy  of  the  Irish? 

A.  It  deeply  grieved  the  people  to  see  the 
amiable  young  lady  on  the  throne  made  the  tool 
ai:d  mouth-piece  of  a  faction  opposed  to  their  lib- 
erties ;  but  the  queen's  mistake  on  the  subject  of 
repeal  could,  of  course,  have  no  effect  on  tlie 
n;itional  resolve  of  millions  suffering  the  bitter 
evils  of  the  Union.  Their  sentiment  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  which  was  expressed  by 
the  Dunaannon  volunteers  in  1779  :  "  We  know 
our  duty  to  our  sovereign,  and  are  loyal ;  but  we 
also  know  our  duty  to  ourselves,  and  are  deter- 
mined to  be  free." 

Q.  What  violent  measures  did  the  government 
take,  to  suppress  the  agitation  for  repeal? 

A.  The  lord  lieutenant  (Earl  De  Grey) 
issued  a  proclamation  to  prevent  a  public  meeting, 
to  petition  parliament  for  repeal,  which  was  ad- 
vertised to  be  held  at  Clontarf  on  the  8th  of  Oc- 


156  CATECHISxAI   OF   THE 

tober,  1843;  and  at  which  a  large  number  from 
great  distances,  and  even  from  England,  had  pre- 
pared to  attend.  The  viceregal  proclamation  was 
issued  at  so  late  an  hour  on  the  7th,  that  it  was 
perfectly  impossible  to  convey  the  knowledge  of 
its  contents  to  tens  of  thousands  who  were  actually 
at  the  moment  on  their  journey  to  the  meeting. 

Q.  What  additional  measures  did  the  govern- 
ment take  ? 

A.  A  large  military  force  was  stationed  in  the 
neighborhood,  so  disposed  as  to  command,  from 
several  points,  the  place  intended  for  the  meeting. 

Q.    UiJ  the  people  obey  the  proclamation  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  owing  to  the  prompt  energy  of  the 
Repeal  Committee,  who  felt  it  their  bounden  duty 
to  prevent  a  hostile  collision  ;  and  who  accord- 
ingly sent  messengers  in  all  directions  to  enjoin 
the  people  to  return  to  their  homes. 

Q.  When  were  the  leaders  of  the  repeal 
movement  prosecuted  ? 

A.  The  prosecution  was  commenced  in  the 
November  term,   1843. 

Q.    Name  the  traversers. 

A.  Diniel  O'Connell,  John  O'Connell,  Thomas 
Steele,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  (editor  of  the  Nation), 
j!)hn  Gray  (editor  of  the  Frenmnn's  Journal), 
RicJiard  B  irret  (editor  of  the  Pilot),  Rev.  Mr.  Tyr- 
rell, P.  P.  of  Lusk,  Rev.  Mr.  Tierney,  P.  P.  of 
Clontibret,  and  Thomas  Matthew  Ray,  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Repeal  Association.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Tyrrell  died  before  the  close  of  the  prosecution, 
and  the  verdict  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tierney  was 
overruled  by  the  bench. 

Q.  llow  did  the  government  secure  a  con- 
viction ? 

A.   By  excludinor  from  the  jury-box  every  man 


HISTORY    OF    IRELAND.  157 

who  did  not  entertain  political  hostility  to  the 
defendants.  The  management  of  the  jury-list  was 
pronounced  by  the  Tory  chancellor  of  England 
(Baron  Lyndhiirst)  to  have  been  ^'fraudulent J' 

Q.  Were  the  seven  traversers  imprisoned  on 
the  verdict  of  the  jury  ? 

A.    Yes,  on  the  30th  of  May,  1844. 

Q.  Did  their  fate  deter  the  Irish  people  from 
further  exertions  for  repeal  1 

A.  Of  course  it  did  not !  On  the  contr;irv, 
the  people,  indignant  at  the  outrage  committed 
on  their  leaders  under  the  forms  of  law,  immedi- 
ately began  to  work  with  augmented  energy ; 
there  was  an  immense  increase  of  the  Repeal 
Rent,  and  a  large  number  of  new  adhesions  to  the 
Repeal  Association. 

Q.  What  length  of  imprisonment  was  adjudged 
to  the  traversers  ? 

A.  One  year  to  Daniel  O'Connell ;  and  nine 
months  to  the  others. 

Q.  Did  they  suffer  the  full  term  of  their  sen- 
tence? 

A.  No ;  they  appealed  by  writ  of  error  to  the 
house  of  lords,  and  that  tribunal  reversed  the 
judgment  of  the  court  below.  The  prisoners  were 
forthwith  discharged,  having  been  imprisoned  for 
over  three  months. 

Q.  How  many  members  of  the  house  of  lords 
formed  the  tribunal  that  decided  the  appeal  in  this 
case? 

A.  The  five  law  lords  —  Lyndhurst,  Brougham, 
Cottenham,  Campbell,  Denman.  The  first  two 
were  for  confirmincr  the  sentence  :  the  last  three 
for  reversing  it. 

Q.  What  were  Lord  Denman's  words  in  giving 
judgment  ? 


158  CATECHISM,   &c. 

A.    "If    such    practices    as    have    taken 

PLACE  IN  THE  PRESENT  INSTANCE  IN  IrELAND 
SHALL  CONTINUE,  THE  TrIAL  BY  JuRY  WILL 
BECOME    A    MOCKERY,  A    DELUSH)N,  AND  A   SNARF,." 

Q.    On  what  day  were  the  prisoners  liberated? 

A.    On  the  6th  of  September,  1844. 

Q.  What  qualities  characterized  the  Irish 
people  during  the  entire  crisis  —  the  trial,  the 
imprisonment,  the  liberation? 

A.  The  utmost  steadiness  and  determination 
of  purpose,  combined  with  a  careful  abstinence 
from  all  violent  and  exasperating  langunge. 
1'here  never  was  a  nation  that  more  fully  devel- 
oped its  own  capacity  for  self-government  than 
the  Irish  did  at  that  very  trying  crisis.  The 
people  and  their  leaders  are  pledged  to  persevere. 
The  issue  of  their  struo-orle  is  in  the  hands  cfGcd: 
but  if  the  thorouorh  justice  of  a  cause,  and  the 
perfect  morality  of  the  me;ins  employed  in  its 
promotion,  may  command  success,  the  final  tri- 
umph of  Repeal  can  neither  be  distant  nor 
doubtful. 


FINIS. 


159 

O'COMELL  AND  HIS  FRIENDS. 

BY   THOMAS    D.    M'GEE. 

This  popular  work  has  already  gone  through 
two  editions.  It  is  published  by  Patrick  Don- 
AHOE,  No.  1,  Spring  Lane. 

OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 

"  It  treats  principally  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  and  sketches  ofT 
the  great  man  with  accuracy  and  eloquence ;  but  there  are  in 
it  lively  sketches  of  many  others,  such  as  Sheil,  Lawless,  Dr. 
Doyle,  Moore.  Furlong,  etc.  Its  appearance  in  America, 
written  and  published  by  an  Irishman,  is  a  healthy  indication." 
—  Boston  Reporter. 

"  We  warmly  commend  it  to  the  public  as  a  faithful  biogra- 
phy of  an  important  class  of  public  men  —  the  Irish  '  Agitators.' 
It  is  remarkable  for  the  multiplicity  of  its  facts,  the  eloquence 
of  its  descriptions  of  men  and  events,  and  the  orthodoxy  of  its 
general  reflections  on  politics  and  government.'  —  Boston 
Times. 

''  The  author  is,  of  course,  strongly  in  arms  for  O'Connell ; 
but  we  may  mention  that  his  volume  contains  numerous  atiec- 
dotes  of  the  leading  men  of  Ireland,  which  are  very  interesting, 
and  not  to  be  found  elsewhere."  —  Boston  Po'^t. 

''  It  is  a  volume  which  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  man 
who  values  human  rights,  and  feels  it  a  national  duty  to  do 
honor  to  the  noble  spirits  who  have  baitled  fearlessly  in  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  their  country."  —  Phil.  Spirit  of  the 
Times. 

"  It  is  written  with  much  care,  talent,  and  variety  of  illustra- 
tion.    We  wish  it  every  success."  —  N.  Y.  Freeman's  Journal. 

"  It  is  well  executed,  and  will  be  found  a  valuable  reference 
in  relation  to  the  character  and  doings  of  an  important  person- 
age, and  to  the  present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  a  far- 
famed  and  oppressed  people  "  —  Christian  Freeman. 

"  To  those  who  feel  an  interest  in  this  very  extraordinary 
man,  this  work  is  of  great  value,  as  it  gives  a  strong  picture  of 
O'Connell  and  his  friends,  viewed  from  the  most  favorable 
point.  Mr.  M'Gee  shows  much  tact  and  considerable  talent 
in  this  work."  —  Olive  Branch. 

"  It  is  from  the  pen  of  Thomas  D.  M'Gee,  a  popular  and  ele- 
gant writer."  —  l^oy  Daily  Budget. 


160 


THE  SPANISH  INQUISITION. 

Count  Le  Maistre's  celebrated  "  LETTERS 
ON  THE  SPANISH  INQUISITION  ;  "  trans- 
lated,  with  copious  Notes  and  a  Preface,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  O'Flaherty,  Catholic  Pastor  of  Salem, 
Mass.  For  sale  by  the  Publisher,  P.  Donahoe, 
No.  1,  Spring  Lane. 


THE  SPIRIT  OE  THE  NATION. 

P.  Donahoe  has  also  issued  a  cheap  and  accu- 
rate edition  of  these  far-famed  national  lyrics  of 
Ireland,  which  may  be  had,  at  the  usual  wholesale 
prices,  of  himself  or  agents. 


THE  BOSTON  PILOT 

Is  published  at  No.  1  Spring  Lane,  by  Patrick 
Donahoe,  at  82,50,  in  advance,  or  $3  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  It  is  the  largest  and  cheapest  paper 
of  the  class  in  America,  and  is  devoted  to  Catho- 
licity, and  a  defence  of  the  Irish  character. 


Date  Due 

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